Extrusion International 5-2022

70 Extrusion International 5/2022 RECYCLING – CASE STUDY Recycling Pioneer Establishes Closed Loop for PET Food Packaging "Fromniche tomust-have." That describes how plastics recycling has evolved in recent years. Faerch also contributed to this. As a plastic packagingmanufacturer and EREMA customer in Denmark, Faerch is the first company in the world to successfully integrate the recycling of european post-consumer PET household pots, tubs and tray packaging into its own production process. F aerch is recognised as a leading manufacturer of food packaging, largely made from PET thermoforming film. Referred to as trays, they are well suited to many applica- tions, especially in the food sector, where food safety, shelf life and a clear view of the packaged product are needed. Faerch produces trays for ready meals, fresh meat, take- away meals and packaging for dairy products a several of its locations in Europe. They supply well-known food pro- ducers and trading companies around the world. The pack- aging must meet the highest quality standards for direct contact with food, and must meet special functional crite- ria, such as for transporting liquid food and when food is frozen or heated up in it. A closed loop for food trays The trays Faerch produces are fully recyclable and, de- pending on the PET type (CPET, MAPET or APET), are made of up to 100 percent recycled post-consumer PET (rPET). That is why Faerch is considered a pioneer in tray-to-tray recycling, also due to its cooperation with EREMA. This is because in comparison to bottle-to-bottle recycling, where the circular economy has been successfully well established for 20 years, closing the material loop of PET trays has lagged behind. "For us it was clear that with purpose-spe- cific modification of our flexible VACUREMA® technology, tray-to-tray recycling could become just as much of a suc- cess story. Faerch was our first customer to be as convinced of this as we were," says Christoph Wöss, Business Devel - opment Manager at EREMA Group GmbH. At Faerch's own recycling plant "CIRREC" in the Neth- erlands, PET bales obtained from collection and sorting companies throughout Europe are sorted, washed and recycled. Both post-consumer rPET flakes and pellets are supplied to packaging manufacturers and reused in the company's own production. "This currently makes us the only integrated recycler in the world capable of recycling used household PET packaging on an industrial scale and turning them back into new trays," explains Thomas Bak Thellesen, Senior Director Group Sustainability & External Affairs. He backs up this statement with some impressive figures: Trays from all over Europe are recycled to make 1.2 billion PCR PET trays per year. The aim is to quadruple the recycling capacity within the coming years. "Without any compromises in terms of food contact compliance and functional properties," as Bak Thellesen emphasises: At Faerch's own recycling plant "CIRREC" in the Netherlands, PET bales obtained from collection and sorting companies throughout Europe are sorted, washed and recycled. Both post-consumer rPET flakes and pellets are supplied to packaging manufacturers and reused in the company's own production