IN THE LABORATORY
73recyclinginternational.com | March/April | 2022
A new chapter in
recyclable food-
grade packaging
A European consortium of companies and aca-
demics is developing fully recyclable, sterilisable,
stand-up pouches for soups, sauces and the like.
Owing to the many food safety regulations that
this type of packaging must meet, producers face
a unique recycling challenge.
Brightlands Materials Center in Geleen,
the Netherlands, is bringing together
participants from the entire value chain
to achieve what is said to be the
world’s fully recyclable ‘wet food’ pack-
aging. Supporting the effort are Zuyd
University of Applied Sciences; raw
material suppliers Indorama and Sabic;
foil producers Dupont Teijin Films and
Oerlemans Packaging Group; and
brand owners and retail suppliers
Greenyard Prepared and Four Seasons
Food.
PP VERSUS PET
Mono-material packaging, consisting
of only a single type of material, has to
be developed in order to improve
recyclability, says bioplastics expert
Caroli Buitenhuis, business and con-
cept developer for Circular Packaging
at Brightlands. ‘Some polypropylene
(PP) stand-up pouches are already on
the market but they don’t yet meet the
strict requirements for food-grade
packaging, including extended shelf
life, sterilisability, water vapour perme-
ability and oxygen permeability.’
The problem with current PP pouches
is that the recyclates can’t be used for
new food packaging, she explains.
‘That’s why it’s important to explore
the possibilities offered by polyethyl-
ene (PET). We know that PET used in
soft drinks bottles can be recycled
again into food-safe packaging.’
So what will the consortium be doing
exactly? ‘We will create a stand-up
pouch entirely based on PP and anoth-
er one that’s entirely based on PET,’
explains Harold Gankema, programme
manager for Circular Packaging at
Brightlands. ‘The latter is a world first;
there’s never been a sterilisable stand-
up PET pouch.’
Gankema argues that European targets
on circularity leave brand owners and
retailers with little choice other than to
use recyclable packaging and, ideally,
post-consumer material should be
recycled into new packaging. ‘This is
not yet the case with the existing
stand-up pouches for “wet food”
applications that have to be sterilised.
I’m sure governments will soon start
demanding a recyclable alternative,’ he
adds.
GLOBAL REACH
The consortium kick-started the work
in February and the project will run for
two years with initial results presented
at the end of 2023. The R&D partners
intend to make their detailed out-
comes available to industry players
worldwide so that all producers have
the opportunity to use circular plastic
packaging. ‘Sharing our specialist
knowledge from this project with the
food, packaging and recycling industry
contributes to the bigger picture of a
circular economy,’ Buitenhuis con-
cludes.
The venture is in addition to
Brightland’s existing participation in
the EUR 9.6 million EU-funded
SYSCHEMIQ project, which aims to
increase the overall recyclability of dif-
ferent types of plastics. This ‘green
deal’ venture is due to be completed
in 2025.
For more information, contact
Caroli Buitenhuis via:
[email protected]
Share your innovative recycling
projects with us via
[email protected]
A U T H O R Kirstin Linnenkoper
RESEARCH
PIONEER __
_________
SUPPORT FR
OM
PP & PET r
ecycling
Caroli Buiten
huis
Brightla
nds
Materials C
enter
73_inthelab.indd 73 01-03-2022 08:57
