Multilayer food packaging can be sustainable packaging—if chemistry, rather than mechanical processes, is used for recycling. That is the finding of a European pilot project that used chemical recycling to break down plastic waste for conversion into a two-layer film for a prototype cheese package.
Germany’s Zott Gourmet Dairy and chemical companies BASF and Borealis, and film supplier Südpack collaborated on the project, which used BASF’s ChemCycling technique to convert plastic waste into pyrolysis oil via thermochemical processing. The plastic waste included mixed plastics, which aren’t suited to mechanical recycling.
The pyrolysis oil was used as feedstock to produce polyamide and ethylene at BASF’s Verbund production site in Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF supplied this ethylene to Borealis, which then processed it into polyethylene resin.
“This approach underlines the need for collaboration on such topics in the industry,” says Christoph Gahn, vp business management Europe Polyamides and Precursors at BASF SE.
Using the polyamide and polyethylene from BASF and Borealis, Südpack manufactured a two-layer, food-safe film which is in test phase at Zott as a package for its Zottarella mozzarella cheese. The package provides the barrier properties and other characteristics Zott requires for its sustainably produced mozzarella.
Source: Packaging Digest
