Can food grade recycled polymers meet global sustainability targets ?

The EU has mandated the industry to include 25 percent recycled content in PET bottles by 2025 and 30 percent in all plastic bottles by 2030 under the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive.

Likewise, in the United States, manufacturers are required to include an annual average of 15 percent of post-consumer recycled plastic (PCR) in beverage containers starting in 2022. By 2025 the mandate is set to increase to 25 percent and by 2030 to 50 percent.        

Source: ICIS, Recycling Supply Tracker – Mechanical, 2021

Will there be enough food grade recycled plastics to meet the demands of brand owners regulation, industry associations, and consumers ?

More importantly, what are the latest regulatory developments that will refocus on the safety of the final material and the substances that may potentially migrate into the packaged food.

Can chemical recycling of hard-to-recycle plastics step in ?

Recycled plastics used for FCMs is regulated rather strictly in the EU as there are concerns on the health risks associated with leakage of decontaminants during the recycling process and in the final product.

Food contact materials require high-quality food grade recycled resins, which are currently limited. Investment is needed in collection systems, consumer education, and recycling capabilities in order to increase the global supply of recyclates to reach industry targets.

Can chemical recycling  be the complementary solution to mechanical recycling to secure supply of recycled resins suitable for food contact applications.

What are the EU, UK & US FDA requirements on chemically recycled plastics for food contact packaging ?

Find out more at the 3rd Recycled Packaging for Food Contact event held this year in Newcastle on the 4 - 5 July and complement your experience with an optional site visit tour to the AMB Packaging facility in the UK.

Optional Site Visit to AMB in the UK   AMB is a market leading international company that delivers a unique difference to the food and food packaging industry. From PET, RPET rigid and flexible film production through to packaging design under one roof, a complete end2end process for it’s customers driven by sustainability. In a world where the environment and a responsibility within the sustainable circular economy have become more important than ever, AMB have an active agenda to meet expectations of its customers and help solve some of the most complex sustainability challenges within packaging production. AMB are Designed to be Different. See how AMB are delivering on this with: •  Site tours around AMB PET extrusion lines and process •  Visit their Tooling & Design for food packaging manufacturing plant