Safety assessment of the process Quinn Packaging, based on Erema Basic technology, used to recycle post‐consumer PET into food contact materials

Abstract

The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the recycling process Quinn Packaging (EU register number RECYC172). The input is hot caustic washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes originating from collected post-consumer PET containers, with no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications. They are heated in a continuous reactor under vacuum before being extruded. Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the continuous reactor step (step 2) is the critical step that determines the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters to control the performance of this critical step are temperature, pressure and residence time. It was demonstrated that this recycling process is able to ensure that the level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food is below the conservatively modelled migration of 0.15 lg/kg food, derived from the exposure scenario for toddlers. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process is not of safety concern when the final thermoformed trays and containers manufactured with the recycled sheets and not used for packaging water contain up to 100% recycled post-consumer PET. Trays made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used in microwave and conventional ovens and such use is not covered by this evaluation.

An Insight into the Application of Gradations of Circularity in the Food Packaging Industry: A Systematic Literature Review and a Multiple Case Study

“…Repurposing was identified to have been less implemented than reducing but more implemented than rethinking, repairing, remanufacturing and refurbishing. This can be explained by the increasing interest in maximising product and material utilisation but the low feasibility of using discarded products and parts to remanufacture new products with the same function [67,69] and the limited application of the strategy of repairing tertiary packaging over secondary or primary packaging made primarily of resilient and hard to repair plastics [61]. Rethinking was less implemented than repurposing but more implemented than repairing, remanufacturing and refurbishing.…”

“…The repurpose strategy yielded two studies, while repair and remanufacture yielded none. This can be explained by the increasing interest in maximizing resource efficiency but a lack of feasibility regarding the manufacturing of products with the same functionality after being used for food packaging (remanufacturing), thus deferring to alternative product functionality through repurposing [67,69]. Repair, which is a strategy that is more applicable to tertiary packaging (e.g., wooden pallets) over secondary or primary packaging that is usually made of resilient, hard repair plastics [61], limits its application in the FPI.…”

Food Plastic Packaging Transition towards Circular Bioeconomy: A Systematic Review of Literature

“…Some rigid and flexible plastics applications are recyclable, such as food containers, pots, tubs and trays made from various polymers, and LDPE (low-density polyethylene) film [6], and, depending on the material and recycling process, recycled plastic materials also meet the safety regulations [77,78]. Note that different authors have also researched the compliance of the safety regulations used to recycle post-consumer plastic materials into food contact materials [78][79][80][81][82][83]).…”