Food grade recyclate as a challenge of the circular economy
Plastics are among the materials that most frequently come into contact with food. In the course of the circular economy and the fight against plastic waste, the use of recycled plastics in food packaging – so-called food grade recyclates – is being promoted more than ever. However, the input material must meet strict criteria to be considered safe enough. What is meant by food grade recyclate, which plastics are suitable for it, and what the legal regulations are, you will learn in this blog article.
What is meant by food grade recyclate and which types of plastic are suitable for the food sector?
Food grade recyclate refers to recyclate that is predominantly made from plastic food packaging and has been decontaminated through an approved process. The input material must meet strict requirements and be suitable for contact with food. Essentially, it is about ensuring that substances from the packaging do not transfer to the food in harmful quantities and that the food is not adversely affected in terms of taste, smell, and composition.
There are various types of food-safe plastics that have been specifically developed not only to ensure food safety but also to maintain the freshness and quality of the food stored in them.
To determine whether a material is food-grade and recyclable as such, it is best to check the recycling code on the packaging. Generally, the numbers 1 to 6 represent food-grade plastic.
- PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), for example, has the recycling code 1. It has high strength and is often used for beverage, ketchup, or vegetable oil bottles.
- HDPE (High-density polyethylene, recycling code 2) is a hard, opaque plastic that is lightweight yet strong. HDPE is often used for juice and milk cartons or shopping bags.
- PVC (Polyvinyl chloride, recycling code 3) is a biologically and chemically very resistant plastic. It is often used for blister packaging, such as for tablets or chewing gum.
- LDPE (Low-density polyethylene, recycling code 4) is thinner than some other plastics. It is primarily used for film applications where heat sealing is required, such as coffee can lids and fruit and vegetable bags.
- PP (Polypropylene, recycling code 5) has a high melting point and excellent heat resistance, making it an ideal plastic for microwave use. PP is also frequently used for yogurt, cream cheese, and sour cream containers.
- PS (Polystyrene) with the recycling code 6 is a colorless, hard plastic that is often used to make plastic cups, fast-food containers, and egg cartons.
Challenges in Recycling Food Grade Plastic
The demand for recycled plastics, especially for use in food and beverage packaging, is steadily increasing. At the same time, however, the supply of food-grade recycled polymers is very limited. Reasons for this include the low quantity and quality of post-consumer waste, costly sorting and washing technologies to eliminate contaminants, and the need for approvals from local authorities.
Two important central authorities are the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Their biggest safety concerns relate to contaminants from post-consumer waste that can be harmful to human health. According to the ICIS Mechanical Recycling Supply Tracker, food-grade plastics currently account for only 10% of the global annual capacity of recycled polymers (rPET, rPE, and rPP) of more than 45 million tons.
Since the requirements for the purity of the recyclate are extremely high, especially in the food sector, it is not enough to simply recycle plastic from a food-grade package to produce food-grade recyclate. It requires in-depth expertise in the recycling process and, above all, the right process technology to produce food-grade recyclate. Multi-sensor sorting systems, which pre-sort off-colors, foreign plastics, and metal particles, ensure on the one hand a high material purity to meet the highest quality requirements and on the other hand a high material throughput for increased profitability.
Legal framework for materials with direct food contact in the EU and the USA
The safety of materials that come into direct contact with food must be assessed in advance, as chemicals can transfer from the materials to the food. This safety assessment – both of input materials and of recycling processes for the production of recyclate for direct food contact – is carried out in Europe by the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA). In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the authority responsible for food safety.
EU Regulatory Framework of the EFSA
The Regulation (EU) No. 10/2011 of the Commission sets criteria for the plastics used in food contact materials. On the one hand, it determines the overall migration limit, and on the other hand, it contains a list of substances approved for the manufacture of plastic food packaging. The permissible overall migration limit for all substances that can transfer from food contact materials to food is 10 mg per square decimeter of the surface in contact with food. In some cases, the overall migration limit is specified as 60 mg/kg of food.
However, because the relevant materials no longer comply with the plastic regulation after use, as they may be contaminated with other substances, there is a separate regulation to control the recycling processes: Regulation (EC) No. 282/2008 on materials made from recycled plastic and articles intended to come into contact with food.
Legal Framework in the USA
In the United States, post-consumer recyclates (PCR) are increasingly used in the production of new food packaging. When the industry wants to recycle used polymers to manufacture new food containers, the FDA steps in for a safety assessment. It is examined whether contaminants from the PCR material can enter the final product made from it and whether additives in the PCR plastic may not comply with regulations for use in food contact. To address these concerns, the FDA reviews each proposed use of recycled plastic on a case-by-case basis and provides an informal opinion on whether the recycling process is likely to produce PCR plastic of suitable purity for applications in contact with food.
rPET as Food Grade Example
Due to the very low migration risk of PET, these recycling processes in particular meet the strict requirements of the EFSA regarding use in the food sector. Unlike many other plastic packaging, PET bottles can be easily automatically sorted out, not least due to well-functioning collection and deposit systems. Across Europe, about 57% of all PET bottles on the market are collected and recycled. In Germany and some other countries, the return rate is even 90%.
The most widespread is the so-called bottle-to-bottle process, in which food-grade PET regranulate is produced for the renewed production of beverage bottles using innovative recycling technologies. However, this requires additional cleaning steps, the so-called "super-clean" processes, which are subject to approval by the EFSA. Thus, only recycling companies with an effective cleaning process and a quality assurance concept are allowed to produce PET recyclates, from which new PET bottles are then manufactured. From the perspective of migration, these PET recyclates are indistinguishable from new material. The recyclate content in PET bottles can be up to 100%, with 50% being the standard in 2021.
Conclusion
A large portion of all food packaging consists of multi-layer plastic composites to meet the high demands for food protection and safety. However, these multi-layer composites cannot be processed into high-quality materials and used circularly with today's recycling technologies and often end up in landfills or are used for energy recovery. The EFSA also defines the permissible starting materials for recyclates that may be reused in direct contact with food.
So far, however, the waste streams of non-food and food packaging are not separated, which means that the recyclates usually do not meet the strict EU requirements for use in the food sector. To achieve the goals of the EU Green Deal, there is a crucial need for innovative and sustainable packaging solutions (design for recycling) and modern recycling technologies to process the materials more efficiently.
Furthermore, there is a growing need for all stakeholders, from consumers to recyclers to manufacturers, to be willing to make their personal contribution—whether through better waste separation, investments in state-of-the-art recycling technologies, or the use of recyclates in the production of new products. Because only if everyone pulls together and pursues the same goal can the cycle be closed.