RESEARCH
Project to increase recyclate content in food packaging / Launch of digital platform Coppa
 With the exception of rPET, very few recyclates have been used in food packaging to date (Photo: PIE) |
To increase the recyclate content of food packaging, German plastics research institute SKZ (Würzburg; www.skz.de) has, in cooperation with six partners, founded a research project titled Open Circular-Collaboration Platform for Sustainable Food Packaging from Plastics, or in short, Coppa.
The aim of the project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, is to develop an open and scalable platform on the basis of digital product passports in order to provide information on secondary materials along the entire value chain.
Apart from the SKZ, the consortium partners are:
The use of recyclate in packaging production currently stands at 11%, equivalent to a volume of 474,000 t. Particularly with food packaging, the use of recycled material is difficult. In Europe, plastics recyclate production in 2021 was at 8.2 mn, according to according to UK-based AMI Consulting (Bristol; www.ami.international), which predicts an annual growth rate of 5.6% up until 2030.
The main obstacles here, according to the SKZ, are not only the regulatory approval, but also the lack of transparency and shortage of information about the origin, quality, quantity, and future availability of recycled plastics.
The aim of the project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, is to develop an open and scalable platform on the basis of digital product passports in order to provide information on secondary materials along the entire value chain.
Apart from the SKZ, the consortium partners are:
- Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy
- Research Institute for Rationalisation at RWTH Aachen University
- GS1 Germany
- European EPC Competence Centre
- Infosim
- Reifenhäuser
The use of recyclate in packaging production currently stands at 11%, equivalent to a volume of 474,000 t. Particularly with food packaging, the use of recycled material is difficult. In Europe, plastics recyclate production in 2021 was at 8.2 mn, according to according to UK-based AMI Consulting (Bristol; www.ami.international), which predicts an annual growth rate of 5.6% up until 2030.
The main obstacles here, according to the SKZ, are not only the regulatory approval, but also the lack of transparency and shortage of information about the origin, quality, quantity, and future availability of recycled plastics.
09.03.2023 Plasteurope.com [252071-0]
Published on 09.03.2023
German version of this article...