Luis Planas (DG ENV, European Commission) highlighted that plastics are key to the economy and circularity. They also have a key role in reducing CO2 emissions, where the impact of extraction of raw materials resources is essential, so many policy initiatives have been developed in recent years.
There is a large mechanical recycling of plastics in Europe, but we need to go beyond this and complement it with inversion in chemical recycling. Stimulating secondary raw materials to promote and incentivise the incorporation of recycled content is also key.
Transition from Directive to PPWR needed for harmonisation and equivalent post-consumer rules to ensure a competitive and equivalent packaging market in all countries. In addition, the EC is pushing for the conclusion of the international plastics treaty by the end of the year to provide a level playing field for the sector.
Ana Fernández (Kp Group) & José Antonio Alarcón (Petcore) We have been working in the Thermoforming WG since 2015 to demonstrate that PET trays can be circular and recycled. After all these years, we need facts and figures to show how this is currently being done and how it needs to evolve in the future.
Regarding the regulatory framework, we already have the targets and now we need the definitions and standards to achieve them.
Carolina Gregorio (Dow) – Plastics production in the EU is around 400.3 million and we have lost around 8 points while China has gained 10 points in recent years. In the EU, 19.7% of plastic products were of renewable origin (mechanical, chemical recycling or bio). PET collection has increased to 60% in the EU, but mainly in bottles, we need to do more on tray collection. From DOW they are driving circularity to reduce the carbon footprint. Technology and innovation, partnership and collaboration and policy and governance are their main drivers.
Leonor García (E&ACT) — The SUP Directive is being amended by the PPWR. The PPWR introduces a very long set of requirements, in addition to being a very long text of more than 100 pages there are a lot of issues still to be developed by future Delegated Acts (DA) and Implementing Acts (IA). In 2028 the EC will establish through a DA the design for recycling criteria and recyclability performance levels and in 2030 an IA will establish the methodology for recycling at scale and the requirements to be met in 2030 (all packaging shall be recyclable complying with the design for recycling guidelines within the levels A>=95%, B>=80% and C>=70%), 2035 (separately collected, sorted and recycled at scale) and 2038 (all packaging shall be recyclable within the levels A or B).
Ana Fernández (Kp Group), Dario Dainelli (Policy Regulatory) y José Antonio Alarcón (Petcore) — There is still a lot of work to be done before PET trays can be considered recyclable on a large scale in the EU by 2035. PET trays have already done their homework in terms of recycled content and the percentage is very high at around 44% (ICIS 2022 market study). Companies like KP Group are committed to tray-to-tray circularity through the REATRAY certification scheme.
Petcore’s Thermoforming WG is working on five main task forces: 1) collection and sorting, 2) recycling, 3) food compliance, 4) standardisation and 5) communication. In terms of food compliance, the most significant initiative has been the Functional Barrier Consortium, which is helping companies to demonstrate the ability of the process to produce materials in compliance with Article 3 of Regulation 1935/2004 regarding rPET used behind a functional barrier and to monitor contamination in relation to NIAS analysis.
Raphael Jaumotte (Petcore) & Sergio Collado (Sulayr) — The importance of the standardisation work being developed within CEN/TC 261/WG 10 is that the aim is to produce consensual standards that could be used by the PPWR in its delegated and implementing acts. The standards will define the scoring methodology of the PPWR recyclability grades, stating that a red constituent will result in a 0% recyclability and a yellow will result in a negative impact on the final recyclability score. Ecomodulation will be based on the grade in 2030 and EPR fees will be approximately 10% of the price of empty packaging in 2022. The PPWR grading will be defined in a delegated act in 2028 and will enter into force in 2028.
Argiris Dabanlis (Petcore) — Petcore’s Tray Circularity Evaluation Platform (TCEP) helps member companies evaluate the recyclability of their innovative products. The result is a ‘Letter of Endorsement’ stating that the product, with a certain percentage of market penetration, does not have a negative impact on the PET tray recycling process. Three of the key objectives for 2024 will be to speed up the assessment of applications, complete the evaluation of AIMPLAS as the third accredited laboratory and improve the TCEP website.
Arnold Wang (Petco China) — In China, mechanical recycling relies heavily on “garbage diggers”. Most of the rPET still goes to textiles. There are several chemical recycling companies mainly dedicated to PET depolymerisation. There is no regulation to promote the use of recycled content for trays. Resin for trays comes from both virgin and recycled PET bottles. The challenges for tray recyclability are black trays, silicone and inks on the surface, and food contact is not yet allowed, so the main application for recycled contact is fibre or strapping.
Ludwing Coenen & Mario Bahlouli (KÖR) — Presented their platform “Labs”, specifically the section designed for Petcore members to comply with 1616/2022 regulation regarding mandatory tests on NIAS and specific migration as well as another food contact materials tests. The use for laboratories is free from charge. The platform allows companies to choose among a list of offers from laboratories, on a comprehensive test ordering, to choose the perfect combination between service and price.
Marta Pérez (FCC Medio Ambiente) — FCC has been providing services for more than 120 years. Waste Treatment and Recycling is one of the six divisions of FCC Medio Ambiente. The sorting plant in Alhendin (Granada) has a waste treatment capacity of 450,000 tonnes per year. PET packaging is selected by NIR optical sorting. To increase PET recovery, this fraction is then specifically treated by shredding, volumetric drum separation and optical sorting to obtain a PET tray fraction (1.5 t/h), which is recycled to increase its purity from around 80 to 95%. Clear and coloured bottle fractions are also sorted.
Antonio Protopapa (COREPLA) — COREPLA’s strategy is to focus on eco-design, sustainable solutions for eco-modulation, improving quality sorting and promoting new recycling technologies. In Italy, the total consumption of PET is 480 kt/year (88% PET bottles, 10% trays and 2% other packaging). Total collection for recycling was 70% in 2023. They are improving PET recycling, promoting the recovery of small packaging, separating flexible and rigid packaging and sorting by colour. They have PET tray sorting processes, which vary depending on the design of the plant and can be done in the final part of the sorting process of the plant or in the PET fraction sorting phase.
Luigi Garavaglia & Federico Serra (AMP) — COREPLA started with PET tray sorting in 2014 activity and in 2020 bales were sent to AMP recycling facility. The incoming bales composition is very different but in average is around 56% monolayer and 37% multilayer and today they are recycling 20.000 tonnes annually. The product obtained is lower transparent than 100% bottle recycled product.
Oliver Laigre (Faerch) – The current capacity of the Faerch plant in the Netherlands (Cirrec) is 20,000 tonnes per year and the company plans to expand and multiply its capacity by ten in Europe by 2026, with between 3 and 4 recycling plants. They recycle all types of trays together, producing mainly a recycled coloured product (“Premiun Matte” with 40% rPET and “Circular Gold” with up to 100% rPET). Transparent PET products are 0% rPET (“Traditional Transparent”) or 5% rPET (“Modern Transparent”). They have 30 sheet and thermoforming production sites, most of them in the EU. Faerch’s drivers are food safety, circularity and reduction of CO2 emissions.
Sergio Collado & Alberto Ariza (Sulayr) & Francisco Ureña (CircularPET) — Sulayr’s facilities have a capacity of 40,000 tonnes per year and are expected to grow to 350,000 tonnes by 2035. Their process recycles PET mono and multilayer trays thanks to a delamination phase. They produce clear rPET flakes for the sheet thermoforming sector and LEPE pellets for the injection sector. Thanks to a partnership with CircularPET, they also offer EFSA approved rPET pellets. Sulayr offers four products:
Samuel Pardo (KP Group) — The share of post-consumer rPET in KP packaging is 30% in 2023. From KP’s perspective, there are five challenges regarding the recycled content of PET trays: collection, sorting, quality, demand and investment. The challenge on recyclability is the need to harmonise as much as possible through standardisation and certification to give the same message to consumers. There are already several products on the market certified by third parties such as the RETRAY or RecyClass certification schemes.
