Monomaterial

In the context of flexible packaging, a monomaterial refers to a material that is primarily made from one type of plastic – typically PE or PP-based. As a common rule of thumb for design for recycling, a structure is considered ‘mono’ if at least 90% of its total weight consists of the target polymer. The remaining portion may consist of printing inks, adhesives or thin functional layers such as barrier films – provided these do not interfere with the recycling process.

Common mono-materials:

Mono-material vs. mono-film

The term mono-film describes the specific design of a single film. Monomaterial, on the other hand, describes the material logic of a multi-layer film composite, which consists predominantly of a polymer family.

Examples:

Sources as of 23 January 2025: