CPNL hosts insightful Meetup on Recycling of Food Packaging

2 minuten

Gorinchem, Netherlands – June 14, 2024 – CPNL recently hosted an informative meetup, moderated by Kim Coppes, featuring seven esteemed speakers who discussed the current landscape of food contact recycling.

Jointly, they explored the challenges and opportunities of producing food-contact-approved polyolefins. Participants from various segments of the value chain were motivated to ask questions and demonstrate their commitment to collaboration. The speakers highlighted the challenges and opportunities in legislation, technology, and economic and practical considerations.

Program manager Louis Jetten kicked off the event presenting the projects recently initiated with CPNL subsidy. Looking ahead, the CPNL team is preparing for future calls with a clear call to action to start matchmaking and collect new initiatives to enable circularity for food packaging.

Key takeaways

Legal complexities: The regulatory landscape for food contact recycled polymers was a major focus. Job Ridderbecks, Food Contact Expert at Food Chain ID provided a clear breakdown of the approval process for different recycling methods, emphasizing the importance of food safety and legal guidance.

Market outlook and incentives: Anne-Marth Vrind from Verpact offered insights on Dutch market recycling targets and highlighted initiatives promoting the use of Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) materials.

Project spotlight: Cap-to-Cap: Matthijs Veerman from Morssinkhof presented their ambitious project which has received CPNL funding. They aim to develop a food-grade recycled HDPE for beverage bottle caps. Key challenges include sorting, decontamination, and ensuring recyclate quality. Their consortium brings together the key players Sabic, Coca-Cola, Corvaglia, and Ducares.

Chemical Recycling Innovations: Jörg Krüger, CEO at Synova showcased their technology for converting mixed solid waste into valuable olefins and chemicals, potentially reducing the need for mass balancing. Arjan Gerrits, Commercial Lead Circular Chemicals at Shell presented their upcoming 50kt pyrolysis oil upgrader facility in Moerdijk, highlighting their commitment to bridging the gap for large-scale chemical recycling.

Converter Perspectives: The challenges and opportunities from the converter’s standpoint were addressed by Rob Verhagen, from OPACKGROUP and Remy Notten, from Dijkstra Plastics. Verhagen discussed the multifaceted challenges like redesign, odor, contamination, and stakeholder perceptions. Remy Notten presented their “FIRE-OFF” initiative, a closed-loop system for collecting and recycling used buckets, and their ongoing research for a food-grade closed-loop system.

CPNL to support your food contact recycling initiatives

CPNL’s program managers Mark Demuynck and Louis Jetten concluded with an appeal to all stakeholders in the food contact packaging chain to discuss projects for achieving food-approved recycled polymers.

Continue the conversation
Missed it? You can find the CPNL team at one of the following events for more information about CPNL’s activities.

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