Three big names in data management and circular logistics have joined forces to create Comply Loop, a one-stop shop for extended producer responsibility compliance.
Valpak, Reverse Logistics Group (RLG) and Noventiz are already well established in extended producer responsibility (EPR) compliance. All three are owned by Reconomy, and the connection allows them to offer Comply Loop, to streamline services for customers.
Comply Loop aims to help businesses meet international compliance needs, manage take-back, analyze data and provide consulting, a press release stated. Valpak, RLG and Noventiz will also continue to serve customers directly.
Andriana Kontovrakis, RLG’s director of compliance services for North America, told Plastics Recycling Update that after Reconomy acquired RLG in December 2021, it made sense for the companies to start leveraging each other’s strengths.
“Instead of being in silos, we’re more cohesive,” she said. “It’s good for us and good for our customers.”
In addition, EPR packaging laws are gaining steam in the U.S. and around the world, and “a lot of producers aren’t ready,” Kontovrakis said.
“They don’t have a good handle on the data or enough staffing, so that’s where we can help you,” she said, adding that they’re also aiding companies that may already be adhering to EPR laws in one country, but “they have one person doing it with a lot of spreadsheets and it’s all manual and it’s a lot of work.”
The three companies do similar things but have different focal points, Kontovrakis said. All three help with EPR compliance, but Noventiz operates primarily in Germany while Valpak is the largest packaging producer responsibility organization (PRO) from a market share perspective in the U.K. RLG offers its services globally, but has a major presence in the North American markets, Kontovrakis said.
Benefits to customers
Kontovrakis said the collaboration allows customers to benefit from each company’s offerings. Valpak, for example, offers a data management system that takes a customer’s packaging attribute information, such as weight, type of plastic, proportion of recycled content and recyclability in various regions, from suppliers. That data can then be sorted and interpreted in many ways.
“We can apply different filters to say, ‘OK, the recycled-content rate for California is this, this is your product and you’re not hitting the goal,'” Kontovrakis said. “Or say you have an ESG goal for recycled content, we can survey the suppliers, collect the data and see where the holes are.”
Other examples include tracking where problematic plastic types are being shipped and estimating what EPR fees might be in a given country if the companies were to make certain changes.
“You have a snapshot of what your products are and your fee now and we can project what it will be next year,” Kontovrakis said. For example, she said, “If you could change the color of the bottle – not that it’s easy to change a color – to something clear, your fee could go down here.”
Comply Loop also employs teams to provide environmental consulting, such as life cycle analyses or working through how to lightweight packaging.
In the U.S. specifically, Comply Loop is working to expand the use of Valpak’s data management platform and consulting service, she said.
“It’s sharing expertise,” Kontovrakis said. “There are a lot of challenges coming from a regulatory standpoint and I think there’s a lot of room to provide people help.”
A version of this story appeared in Resource Recycling on Sept. 1.
