Chemical recycling and packaging innovation enable circular food packaging
Fost Plus and Indaver are collaborating on the chemical recycling of yogurt cups and foam trays
Yoghurt pots and foam trays for meat or fish will be chemically recycled in the Antwerp harbor starting mid-2024. This is a European first, as it allows polystyrene (PS) and extruded polystyrene (XPS) from the Belgian blue bag to be processed into secondary raw material that can be used to make packaging again – including for food. The project is made possible by the construction of a new chemical recycling plant in the Antwerp harbor by Indaver, supported by collaboration with Fost Plus for the supply of PS and XPS from PMD. Colruyt Lowest Prices has already made its XPS trays, which are used for packaging fresh meat, recyclable and aims to eventually transition to fully circular meat trays.
Fost Plus announces a long-term collaboration with Indaver’s Plastics2Chemicals demonstration plant for the chemical recycling of (X)PS from household packaging waste. Starting from 2024, this new plant will process up to 26,000 tons of material using depolymerization technology to produce secondary raw material. The recycled styrene, the end product, will have the same characteristics as new material, allowing for the production of yogurt pots and meat and fish trays – among other (X)PS packaging.
Unique circular story
Erik Moerman, Director Sales and Development at Indaver: “Like certain other plastics, PS has the potential to be used as a circular polymer. The new chemical recycling plant in the Antwerp harbor, combined with the pre-treatment facility we are currently building at our site in Willebroek, allows us to recycle PS and XPS back into monomer form. This is unique in Europe.”
Wim Geens, Managing Director of Fost Plus: “Our goal has always been to maximize plastic recycling in Belgium. This was not yet the case for polystyrene because it represents a relatively small share of the blue bag. Approximately 3,000 tons of PS per year from the five PMD sorting centers will be chemically recycled starting from 2024. It is a Belgian circular story that we can rightly be proud of.”
Potential for circular foam trays
Polystyrene is one of the 16 types of materials sorted by the blue bag sorting centers. Both PS and XPS packaging end up in this fraction and are mechanically recycled. However, recycling specifically XPS packaging presents a complex challenge. Foam trays for fresh meat or fish are among the packaging items that often cause doubts during sorting. Nevertheless, they belong in the blue bag. But even if they ended up there, it sometimes happened that they escaped the chain due to their color. Packaging with so-called carbon black cannot be recognized by the infrared cameras of sorting installations. These black trays unfortunately ended up in residual waste. Colruyt Group markets approximately 880 tons of XPS packaging each year. They have now transitioned all their black trays to dark gray, making them sortable and recyclable.
Pascal Dekelver, Division Manager Meat at Colruyt Group: “XPS is an interesting packaging material. It has good mechanical properties (strong and stackable), excellent absorption capacity, and a high insulating power, which reduces temperature fluctuations for fresh meat products. To increase their recycling rate, we have converted all our black trays to gray. The next step is to add recycled material. This way, we continue working step by step towards making our packaging more sustainable.”
In addition to polystyrene, Plastics2Chemicals will also recycle polyolefins, including about 1,000 tons of films from the blue bag such as multipack overwraps or chip packets.
The current proposal of the European Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation states that by 2030 all plastic packagings should contain 10 percent recycled material. This is an ambitious goal, but necessary to protect the environment and our natural resources. Although recycled PS from mechanical recycling can be used perfectly for making new products or non-food packaging, it is not allowed for food-safe applications. This new collaboration opens the door for circular trays and pots.
Figures:
- Plastics2Chemicals has an input capacity of 26,000 tons of PS (polystyrene) and PO (polyolefin) starting in mid-2024, with a projected industrial scaling up to 65,000 tons (from 2027), making it the largest depolymerization recycling plant in Europe.
- The high-tech recycling plant in the Antwerp harbor represents an investment of 100 million euros and will create 60 new jobs. The pre-treatment facility in Willebroek is being built for 30 million euros and will provide 25 new jobs.
- Eventually, 3,000 tons of PS and 1,000 tons of PO from the Belgian blue bag will be recycled annually.
- Colruyt Group is transitioning their 880 tons of black XPS packaging to improve their sorting and recyclability.
- Nearly one in five Belgians do not sort plastic (foam) trays as part of PMD waste (18 percent, Fost Plus survey 2022, N = 2,500).
- For each ton of PS: a CO2 saving of 3,500 kg compared to valorization.
