Truck and Track Autumn 2021

Truck and Track Autumn 2021 www.truckandtrack.com 56 SAFETY & SECURITY Security Seals are an important element in the logistics process and, when used properly, guarantee a consignment arrives at its destination as it was dispatched. Originally manufactured in steel and tinplate, plastic seals started to make inroads into the market in the late 1960s and early 1970s and their ease of use, safety and adaptability caused demand to grow exponentially - until now. Many companies are deciding to take plastics out of their supply chain, to use less fossil fuel based materials, reduce their carbon footprint and avoid plastic waste in the environment. As a plastic seal manufacturer, you would expect Unisto to take a slightly different position on the avoidance of seals made of thermoplastic. Polypropylene, polyethylene and polyamide are all by-products of the petrochemical industry, which we still rely on to provide fuel for most of our vehicles, aircraft, and shipping. The by-products are still available without needing to pump more fossil fuel from the ground. The security arena is a perfect one for recycling. A security seal should never be discarded but controlled, even after use. A used security seal can continue to provide evidence after it has been removed from an application, should an unexplained shortage be found in the consignment it was protecting. Therefore, it should be kept securely for a period after use and then placed in the recycling. If carelessly dropped on the ground a spent security seal can become a very useful test piece for any rogue that picks it up. Heathrow Airport is a fine example. Plastic seal waste was so plentiful at all the distribution sites that almost no seal was safe from tampering. All plastic security seals were considered useless at deterring theft, as every crook that worked around there knew how to open them without leaving too much evidence, they had been able to practice without limit on all the waste seals at the kerbside. So plastics pollution and poor security control went hand-in-hand. Seals are used in quantity and can easily be collected by the driver and returned to their DC or retained by the delivery site for recycling. Seal suppliers need to work together with their customers to ensure that seal recycling becomes an important final step in its lifecycle. This is for now a vision of the future, a work-in-progress. From 1st April 2022, our government along with the European Union, will levy a tax on plastic packaging, including bioplastics, containing less than 30% recycledmaterial at £200 per tonne. As a result of this measure, it is predicted that recycling will become both more lucrative and popular. Environmentally Friendly Plastics: In response to this move, Unisto has created an EcoGrade range of polypropylene (PP) security seals that includes at least 30% recycled PP and has re-engineered popular products to use less material without compromising on quality, effectiveness, or ease of use. Thedevelopment of newmaterials todeal with the twin issues of environmental degradation due to plastic waste and the reduction in use of fossil-based feedstocks has led to bewilderment amongst consumers about the different types of “environmentally friendly” materials on the market. There is confusion about the various terminologies used for new plastic Security Sealing in a New World of Eco, Bio and the Circular Economy