Paper, cardboard and plastic

Risks and opportunities 

In the EU, Extended Producers Responsibility will be phased in by 2025, with taxes on all packaging, depending on the recyclability, colour and weight of the packaging. There is thus a risk of having to pay high taxes, but also that it can be difficult to find replacements for specific current materials.  

In towns and settlements, leftover packaging, fishing nets and fishing boxes can be seen, just as lost or worn-out fishing gear left in the water can result in 'ghost fishing'. In addition, leftover trawl nets contain plastic, which can be worn down into microplastic in the sea.   

Royal Greenland wishes to increase recycling and sees opportunities in the systematic review and conversion of all packaging and other materials for which more sustainable solutions can be used.  

Actions and results 2022 

In 2022, the extensive work continued of mapping and registering the material composition of all packagings, in order to build up an effective digital reporting system in time for the phasing-in of the Extended Producers Responsibility.  

Coordination of production testing is now part of the new innovation department. The focus will continue to be on consumer packaging and subsequent semi-finished and industrial products. 

Goals and achievement of the goals 2019-2022 

Packaging

Goal:

• Minimum 85% of Royal Greenland's plastic packaging consists of reusable monomaterials. 
• All cardboard and paper is FSC-certified, or the equivalent. 

Achievement of the goal: 

80% of plastic packaging that consists entirely of plastic material can now be recycled. The goal has thus not been fully achieved, but a number of retail products have been transferred from multi-layer plastic to monomaterials, just as supply reviews of alternatives to more complicated plastic types has been carried out on an ongoing basis.  

For composite packaging consisting of e.g. cardboard and a thin plastic insert, work is ongoing to find useful solutions, including larger bulk packaging and packaging on board trawlers.  

All paper and cardboard used consist of FSC-certified materials.  

Fish boxes and tubs 

Goal

• Fish tubs are changed from polyethylene (PE) or polyurethane (PUR) to the monomaterial PE/PE. 
• Used fish boxes and tubs are collected and granulated for recycling. 

Achievement of the goal: 

In Greenland, Royal Greenland has decided to only purchase fish tubs made from polyethylene as a pure monomaterial. A large number of tubs have already been replaced, but there are still many fish tubs with other core material than the outer material, which cannot be processed into granulate, but repaired and sold for recycling.  

Royal Greenland naturally uses large numbers of fish boxes and fish tubs, which have limited durability. Greenland does not have recycling facilities for plastic within the country’s borders, and therefore during the period fish boxes from Nuuk were sent for recycling in Denmark on a trial basis. Here, they were melted down and used for, among other things, refuse bins for Danish households.  

Trawl nets and other fishing gear 

Goal

• Fishing trawl nets and gill nets are collected, processed and recycled. 

Achievement of the goal: 

During the period, work took place to find solutions for used fishing gear, gill nets or long-lines from coastal fisheries. Unfortunately, we have not yet succeeded in initiating a procedure in this area. 

In several instances, Royal Greenland has contributed financially to cleaning up lost trawl nets and gill nets in the Disko Bay, and in 2022, the authorities drew up a national procedure for reporting to GFLK, the Greenlandic control authority. This procedure will be implemented in 2023.  

Ambitions for 2030: 

• Full reuse of used trawl nets and gill nets owned by Royal Greenland 
• All packaging is made from recyclable materials.