Will Your Packaging Survive the MRF? Recycling Risk Scanner

Recyclability · outcome by market

Material3-layer laminate (BOPP/BOPET/PE)

Not MRF-sortable in 4 of 6 markets

What Recycling Risk Scanner does

Being technically recyclable isn't the same as being sorted. The scanner rates how your material behaves at the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) — green (sorted), amber (variable), red (lost as contamination) — across six markets, and names the reason, from NIR misreads on multilayer laminates to patchy kerbside glass capture.

Optical-sorting (MRF) outcome per material across US, EU, UK, CA, MX and BR
Red/amber/green verdict with the specific reason (NIR misread, delamination, breakage)
Exposes the gap between “technically recyclable” and “actually sorted”
PackIndex recyclability dataset — a design screen before you commit to a laminate

How it works

Select your material
Pick the substrate — mono-BOPP, 3-layer laminate, rPET thermoform, glass and more.
Read the market grid
Each of the six markets shows green, amber or red for how the pack sorts at its MRFs.
Check the reason
Every non-green outcome names why — mixed polymers failing sortation, foam jamming sorters, compostables read as contamination.
Redesign before committing
Use the verdict to switch to a mono-material or MRF-friendly construction before tooling up.

Frequently asked

My packaging is labelled recyclable — why would it fail?

A material can be recyclable in principle yet get lost at the MRF: multilayer laminates can't be delaminated, foams jam sorters, and compostables read as PET/PE to near-infrared sensors and are pulled as contamination. The scanner shows the real sortation outcome.

Why do outcomes differ by country?

Sortation infrastructure varies. Bottle-bank glass capture is strong in the EU/UK but patchy for kerbside glass in the US, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, so the same material can grade green in one market and amber in another.

What does amber mean?

Variable — the pack is sorted in some facilities or streams but not reliably across the market, often because separation (e.g. rPET thermoform from cardback) is inconsistent.

How does this differ from the Market Recyclability tool?

This scanner focuses on MRF optical sortation — will the machine sort it. Market Recyclability looks at whether the material is actually collected and processed end-to-end in each country.