INNOVATION | RIGID PACKAGING
entering a new era for recycling ushered in by innovative technology.”
Seeing the potential in such a venture, major
Below: INRT food-grade rPP resins developed in the NEXT- LOOPP project have been
used in the trial production of tubs and lids
organisations – including brand owners, packaging manufacturers, and recycling tech companies, and other companies in the PP supply chain – from all over the world have been quick to join NEXT- LOOPP, united in a common belief that PP ultimate- ly has a circular destination. With their knowledge and expertise spread out over so many industrial sectors and geographic areas, participants offer financial and technical support, and the use of their facilities for trials, while NEXTLOOPP’s techniques are constantly refined. By the conclusion of the project, which has no firm end date, there are expected to be a number of businesses using the technology to manufacture food-grade rPP at their own premises. As an indirect consequence, it is also hoped that others will develop their own strategies to follow the evolution of truly circular PP food packaging. On explaining why multinational polyolefins company LyondellBasell joined NEXTLOOPP, Richard Roudeix, Senior Vice President Olefins & Polyolefins, says: “In the area of post-consumer polypropylene for food packaging, we are eager to join and support the research of the NEXTLOOPP project to help find new solutions. To unlock the full value of plastics, critical gaps must be addressed so these valuable resources can be circulated back into the economy. The development of innovative new solutions and the increase of recycling rates is key to addressing plastic waste and climate change.” Beauty product leader L’Oréal recently became
the latest addition to the now 47-strong partner project. Delphine Trillat, Materials Science Domain leader at L’Oréal, said in its announcement: “We have been working for many years to develop packaging made from high quality post-consumer
recycled polymers. Today, we are pleased to join the NEXTLOOPP Project in order to boost the circular pathway for food-grade rPP packaging.” In June this year, it was announced that NEXT-
LOOPP had successfully undertaken the first full-scale packaging production trials using its unique PPristine decontamination process and INRT food-grade rPP resins, a high-quality polymer developed specifically for food packaging. Mannok Pack, one of the UK and Ireland’s leading thermoformed food packaging manufacturers, ran the trials at its County Cavan facility in Ireland. It produced a range of different products, including 500 g dairy spread tubs and lids using injection moulding with in-mould labelling, and 500 g dairy spread tubs with lids using sheet extrusion and thermoforming. The finished packs were said to “show excellent visual and processing characteristics” with only minor but acceptable product variations between the 30% rPP pack and the virgin PP pack. Helene Roberts, CEO at another NEXTLOOPP partner, Robinson Packaging, which was also involved in trials, says: “We were delighted with the results of these initial trials using the food-grade rPP material from NEXTLOOPP that produced very similar aesthetics and performance to our current virgin- based products and little disruption to the manu- facturing line.” NEXTLOOPP is finalising its application to EFSA
and FDA, the respective EU and US agencies for food-grade accreditation. It is also working in conjunction with various industry bodies to advise on new design guidelines for food-grade PP recycling based on the project’s findings so far. Nextek is also leading the COtooCLEAN project, with the aim of producing food-grade recyclate from polyolefin film waste. This project has secured funding from UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body of the UK govern- ment. The UKRI’s Smart Sustainable Plastic Packag- ing challenge, which supports the UK Plastics Pact, rewards innovative projects focusing on reuse and recycling of plastic packaging. Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) says: “One of the biggest bottlenecks for recycling of HDPE and PP polymers are the low collection rates. Historically, PP fraction was collected, sorted, and baled togeth- er with HDPE, meaning that it would require further sorting. Establishing well-defined mono fractions for plastic waste will advance quality plastics recycling and optimise the process. It is essential to transform and better define the current streams.” It continues: “Making rigid polyolefins fully circular depends on ensuring a product is readily
52 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | September 2022
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
IMAGE: NEXTEK
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