Indorama Ventures, AMB Spa introduce recyclable PET multilayer tray

Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd., headquartered in Bangkok, and AMB Spa, one of Europe’s leading packaging solutions providers, have partnered to design a multilayer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tray designed that embeds recycled PET flakes in the core while using virgin food-grade PET in the outer layers.

The tray is intended to meet the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and accelerate circularity for complex food packaging.

The companies first announced their collaboration in August 2023.

Indorama says the design matches the food safety, optical clarity and sealing performance that brand owners and regulators require while substantially increasing recycled content and being recyclable after use.

The solution aligns with future recyclability and recycled-content requirements under the PPWR, Indorama says, including the target of reaching an average of 30 percent recycled content in plastic packaging by 2030.

Multilayer trays protect food products, extend shelf life and reduce food waste, the company says, noting a 2024 case study that showed PET trays extended shelf life from six to 15 days, reducing average food waste from 47 percent to 15 percent.

Today, roughly 30 percent of PET trays in Europe are collected for recycling, according to Jose-Antonio Alarcon, the technical manager of Petcore Europe's thermoforming working group, making developing effective recycling pathways for multilayer trays essential.

“This solution demonstrates that multilayer trays can meet circularity goals in practice, not just on paper,” says Paolo Cescutti, chief procurement officer at AMB Spa of Italy. “It proves that innovation and collaboration can unlock new recycling pathways, even for the most complex packaging waste streams.”

Production of the new multilayer tray structure is active at Indorama Ventures’ Verdun Recycling facility in France. Finished trays are being supplied to customers in the U.K., with broader European deployment underway, according to the company. 

“A scalable innovation like this enables the tray industry to maintain high performance while moving decisively toward Europe’s circular-economy ambitions," says Andy Motta, business director for Europe and Türkiye, CPET, at Indorama Ventures. "It reflects our commitment to solutions that strengthen recycling systems.