As part of the ChemCycling project, BASF, Borealis, Südpack and Zott have demonstrated a series of prototype food packaging made from 100% recycled materials.
The project aims to illustrate the importance of multilayer packaging in reducing food waste, and these structures can now be produced from chemically recycled materials.
Johannes Remmele, Managing Director of Südpack, said: "Today's high-tech film packaging solutions consist of multiple materials and layers with different properties, such as oxygen barriers. And because of the optimized use of materials, we can minimize the volume of the packaging.
Multi-layer packaging consists of up to 11 separate ultra-thin layers, which is lighter and thinner than similar packaging. In addition to reducing the use of raw materials, this also helps to significantly reduce carbon emissions during transportation.
However, because mechanical recycling processes are not applicable to composite materials, multilayer packaging can only be recycled to a certain extent.
"In the ChemCycling project, BASF is working hard to promote the chemical recycling of plastic waste because it will enable the processing and reuse of previously non-recyclable plastics, such as mixed plastics. In cooperation with our partners, we have now produced for the first time Prototype packaging made of chemically recovered polyamide and polyethylene. This shows that recycling of multilayer packaging can be quickly recycled, "explains Christoph Gahn, who runs BASF's polyamide business.
European film maker Südpack uses these materials to produce specially sealed Mozzarella packaged multilayer films for Zott Gourmet Dairy.
"In our dairy, we constantly review the entire value chain to determine where we can be more sustainable and how we can wisely extend our sustainability," said Andreas Strunk, head of production, technology and supply chain management at Zott. Standards. Consumers now expect more than ever before high-quality and sustainable food packaging to conserve resources as much as possible. This is why it has been part of this pilot project for us from the beginning. Projects can share our experience and our high-level requirements for packaging and its barrier functions, and contribute to the development of solutions with the same functionality and improved environmental performance. "
As part of the project, very small quantities of raw materials are produced for polyamide and polyethylene. Pyrolysis oil extracted from plastic waste is supplied by partners and fed into BASF's Verbund production site in Ludwigshafen as raw material. Both plastics are allocated a 100% share of recycled materials under a certified mass balance method.