News Items - International Association of Packaging Research Institutes
Belgian members work on recyclable films

Belgium’s Pack4Food and Hasselt University (UHasselt) are making progress in a project investigating multilayer plastics films for food, with a focus on combining strong barrier and shelf-life features with recyclability – particularly in PP-based structures.

The Multi2Recycle project launched at the beginning of 2022 and is due to finish at the end of 2024. It is led by Pack4Food, based in Ghent, with UHasselt as one of five research partners. The project also includes an additional 14 industry partners.
 
According to junior project manager Brecht Van Der Hoeven, the project asks the question: “How do you design multilayer flexible plastics packaging that has good functional properties, and is mechanically recyclable, to create high-quality recycled material that can be processed again into flexible film?” 
 
As he explains to IAPRI, the aim was to increase the knowledge on recyclability for the industrial partners and to perform research on multilayer or coated PP films. “We’ve defined generic cases, and in a market study we saw that the greatest potential lay with PP films,” he says. “This was also where we found the most ‘unknown territory’, where research would generate the most generic knowledge.”
 
The types of structures being investigated range from metallised and SiOx coated PP to PP multilayers with EVOH barrier tie-layers and combined polymer layers, such as OPP/CPP.
 
“The recycled material clearly can’t be used again for primary food packaging, but we’re looking at secondary food packaging and primary non-food applications, such as electronics, where there is still a need for a moisture barrier, for example,” says Van Der Hoeven.
 
As well as the straightforward recyclability of mixed PP streams, the project aims to evaluate the impact of repeated film-to-film mechanical recycling and to define tolerance limits when it comes to the proportion of barrier material in a structure.
 
While the focus here is on mechanical recycling, the ‘trends and innovations’ work package will include tracking developments with chemical recycling, says Pack4Food.
 
 

Published: 03/30/23