Image courtesy of IVL
Multinational Thailand-based packaging producer Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) is working with Portugal-based PET barrier films producer Evertis to use flake from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) trays to produce PET film suitable for food packaging trays.
IVL calls the partnership “an important step in diverting PET trays from landfill or incineration to support the EU’s recycling targets and create a circular economy for PET trays.”
The two companies say that affter six years of research and development, Indorama Ventures is commercially producing recycled PET (rPET) flakes from post-consumer trays in its Verdun, France, facility. It calls the resulting flake “comparable in quality to flakes originating from bottles.”
The development “supports a closed-loop economy for PET trays by giving consumers more sustainable options and enabling packaging producers to meet their recycled content targets,” say Evertis and IVL.
“PET trays are crucial to provide safety and convenience to consumers, ensuring longer shelf life for food and reducing waste,” says Marta Matos Gil, chief sustainability officer at Evertis. “For some time, our industry has had a goal to create circular solutions for these essential products. Indorama Ventures’ innovative recycling methods shows how we can create a truly circular economy by developing infrastructure and capacity to collect, sort and recycle PET trays and transform them back into valuable raw material.”
Indorama Ventures says the new recycling technology has the potential to divert more than 50 million post-consumer PET trays from landfill or incineration each year .
“We can support a circular economy by conducting rigorous testing at every stage of the process, from sorting and recycling to conversion, to ensure the highest quality,” says Yash Lohia, chair of IVL’s Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) Council. “The Deja sustainable ingredients brand, including rPET, supports the EU’s plastic collection and recycling targets.”
The effort also supports Evertis’ 2025 target of using 50 percent post-consumer recycled content in its products.