Improving circularity of multilayer flexible plastic food contact packaging

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• environment and society at large benefit from recyclable food packaging which can be recycled and reused back into food packaging while keeping the quality, value and extending the material lifetime;
• industrial value chains including primary and secondary raw material producers, polymer suppliers, additives suppliers, converters, brand owners and retailers (SMEs and large companies), agri-food suppliers, waste managers and recyclers introduce sustainable food packaging on the market through enhanced design for recycling and solutions for effective sorting and recycling on an industrial scale, in line with the safe-and-sustainable-by-design principles^[1];
• consumers and civil society are sufficiently informed about appropriate ways of disposal of used food packaging to enable its circularity.

Scope:

Plastic food packaging represents a significant part of all plastic packaging put on the EU market. Flexible films composed of multiple layers are commonly difficult to recycle. And to date, there is no market at scale for closing the loop and establish recycling systems from food contact back to food contact application. Despite the advancement of several solutions, there is a need to improve the efficiency of recycling solutions and reach as high as possible yield of food contact compliant recycled plastic coming from post-consumer packaging films.

Proposals should:

• advance marketable solutions towards mono-material multilayer flexible plastic food contact packaging to enable its effective end-of-life collection, sorting and recycling into food contact-compliant recycled plastic suitable for food packaging;
• Improve eco-design of multilayer plastic food packaging and demonstrate at large scale digital solutions for circularity such as digital product passport;
• demonstrate individual and/or a combination of physical technologies and digital solutions (for example, AI, watermarking, or others) to further improve sorting yield of multilayer flexible packaging;
• test and demonstrate recycling technologies (separation, purification, decontamination, etc.) enabling uptake of food contact compliant recycled plastic into food contact packaging in line with the targets of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation;
• demonstrate pathways to increase the recycled content of food contact compliant recycled plastic in new food packaging products;
• demonstrate solutions on an industrial scale involving the whole value chain, while ensuring compliance with relevant food contact regulations (Regulation 2022/1616 and Regulation 1935/2004).

Proposals should also evaluate the feasibility, effectiveness and impact of the demonstrated solutions using robust evaluation methods (including lifecycle assessments such as product environmental footprint, where relevant) and present data and evidence about the economic, environmental and social costs and benefits of the developed solutions.

Engagement of all relevant value chain stakeholders is expected, i.e. primary and secondary raw material producers, polymer suppliers, additives suppliers, converters, agri-food suppliers, brand owners and retailers (SMEs and large companies), waste managers and recyclers. Clustering with other relevant Horizon Europe projects is encouraged.

The topic supports the European Green Deal, the Regulation on Packaging and Packaging Waste, the Single Use Plastics Directive, the Waste Shipment Regulation, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and its working plan, the Regulation for recycling of plastic intended for contact with food, the Zero Pollution Action Plan, and the upcoming Circular Economy Act and contributes to Europe’s efforts to develop a single market for sustainable products.

[1] Safe and sustainable by design - European Commission