The Global Aluminium Foil Roller Initiative (GLAFRI) organised the first”Alufoil Sorting and Recycling Webinar“ recently, focussing on thin aluminium foil based laminates. With more than 130 participants from the whole supply chain from Asia incl. India, Europe, Middle East, North and South America, and South Africa the coverage was beyond expectations.”Thanks to the excellent speakers on modern sorting and alufoil recycling technologies we could attract thistruly global audience – in line with GLAFRI objective to share knowledge and best practices on foil sustainability worldwide“ said Stefan Glimm, GLAFRI Director General.
High effectiveness of sorting can be achieved economical for alufoil with eddy current separators, especially when combined with inductive sensor and robot sorting. Advanced mechanical recycling of aluminium barrier flexible packaging materials can be achieved by delamination technologies (Saperatec, CreaSolv). Alternatively, the aluminium foil can be recycled via pyrolysis (Enval, PreZeroPyral) while converting the polymers into oils which can be used as feedstock for new polymers. The technologies are either implemented successfully since years while some are still in pilot stage. In addition, a statement of the German Central Agency Packaging Register shows that the challenges for aluminium foil orpaperbased laminates are similar in providing solutions to recycle the various material components to make the entire pack recyclable.
The presentations were summarized in the June edition of International ALUMINIUM Journal and can be downloaded here: Sorting and Recycling – Global Aluminium Foil Roller Initiative (global-alufoil.org)
Stefan Glimm is an economist with over 35 years of work experience in national, European and global organizations.
Today he serves as Director General of the Global Aluminium Foil Roller Initiative (GLAFRI), which was founded under his leadership in 2015.
Before he was Executive Director of the European Aluminium Foil Association and Flexible Packaging Europe for decades.
Stefan started his career mid of the 80ies with a focus on sustainability, energy policy and public relations in national and international organizations such as
- The European Aluminium Association (EA) and the German Aluminium Association (GDA), developing the principles for the collection and compiling of life cycle data and pioneering in generating sustainability indicators
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - working out of UNEP’s global headquarter in Nairobi, Kenya, on global environmental issues.
He is
- Member of the Advisory Board of interpack, the world leading packaging exhibition;
- Co-founder of the Save Food Initiative supported by interpack/Messe Duesseldorf, FAO and UNEP
- Co-initiator of CEFLEX, the collaborative initiative representing the entire value chain of flexible packaging to enhance circular economy
Stefan served as honorary Chairman of the Advisory Committee of action medeor, the largest European Medical Aid Organization specialized on worldwide disaster management from May 2016 to September 2019. In 2021 he was nominated as jury member of the UN supported prestigious Hult Prize Foundation 2021 Regional Bremen Summit to award start-ups on “Food for Good – Transforming food into a vehicle for change”.
