RIGID PACKAGING | INNOVATION
Advances show promise for food-grade rPP
Recycling polyolefin rigid packaging remains a major challenge. But Chris Saunders finds progress being made in food-grade polypropylene and in label compatibility and other areas
Creating a closed loop in the rigid polypropylene food packaging use and reuse chain is the ambi- tious goal of the NEXTLOOPP project. In October 2020, UK-based sustainability consultancy Nextek launched NEXTLOOPP as a multi-participant project specifically orchestrated to increase the availability of food-grade rPP. The project uses a combination of cutting edge technologies to produce food-grade recycled PP to achieve compliance with food-grade standards in the UK, EU and the USA. NEXTLOOPP technology can identify and sort any number of pack variants from shower gel bottles to yoghurt pots in any plastic type, thereby saving more rigid plastics from landfill sites. Prof Edward Kosior, CEO of Nextek, says: “Being
able to rely on an abundance of high-quality food-grade recycled resins would go a long way
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towards reducing our reliance on virgin PP. Given that roughly 20% of the world’s virgin plastic production is PP, it is clear we need to boost production of food-grade rPP. Mechanically recycling PP closes the loop on a valuable material that is currently being wasted as it gets diverted to other end-of-life solutions with higher carbon footprints, such as waste-to-energy or chemical recycling.” But recycling PP so it meets food contact
standards is easier said than done. “High-quality food-grade PP resin requires eliminating all contaminants from post-consumer waste that could be harmful to human health, as well as proving that the recycled material does not change the food composition, taste, or odour,” Kosior says. “This is something that, until recently, was not achievable, hence our reliance on virgin plastics. Now we are
September 2022 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 51
Main image: Rigid polyole- fins account for a large part of food packaging
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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