Recycled Plastic for Sustainable Food Packaging

Recycled plastics have become a crucial component in the global push toward sustainability. With growing concerns over plastic pollution and finite resources, industries are turning to recycling as a way to reduce environmental impact. This guide delves into every aspect of recycled plastics—what they are, how they’re processed, the challenges, and the future trends shaping this space.

The food packaging industry, in particular, relies heavily on plastic, making the understanding of recycled plastic a key element in achieving sustainability goals while maintaining high standards of safety, durability, and cost-effectiveness.

What Is Recycled Plastic?

Recycled plastic is derived from waste plastics that are reprocessed into new materials. These plastics go through a series of steps to be transformed back into usable raw materials or final products, which can be used across various industries including packaging, textiles, construction, and automotive. By reusing plastics, companies can reduce their reliance on virgin resources and contribute to the circular economy, where materials are continuously reused rather than discarded.

How Is Plastic Recycled?

The recycling process for plastic involves multiple steps, each crucial for converting waste into usable materials:

Collection: Plastics are gathered from municipal, industrial, and commercial sources. Effective collection systems are essential for ensuring a steady supply of recyclable material.
Sorting: Plastics are sorted by type (resin identification codes) to maintain purity. Automated systems like near-infrared sorting improve efficiency.
Cleaning: Plastics are thoroughly washed to remove labels, dirt, and contaminants. Contaminated plastic can reduce the quality of recycled material, making this step vital.
Shredding: After cleaning, plastics are shredded into small flakes or pellets to facilitate easier handling and processing.
Melting: The shredded plastic is melted and formed into new shapes. In some processes, it’s melted into pellets or raw materials that manufacturers can use in new products.
Reformation: Finally, the melted plastic is extruded, molded, or processed into new materials such as packaging, textiles, or construction materials.

This multi-stage process ensures that waste plastic is efficiently converted into high-quality, reusable materials, minimizing environmental impact and preserving natural resources.

Types of Recycled Plastics

Not all plastics are created equal, and understanding the differences is crucial for effective recycling. The most commonly recycled plastics include:

Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET): This is the most widely recycled plastic, used in beverage bottles and food packaging. It is highly recyclable and can be reprocessed multiple times into new containers or polyester fibers for clothing.
High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE): Found in milk jugs, detergent bottles, and plastic bags, HDPE is durable and relatively easy to recycle. It is often used to create new containers, piping, or plastic lumber.
Polypropylene (PP): Found in yogurt containers, bottle caps, and automotive parts, PP is one of the most versatile plastics. It is recycled into products like signal lights, battery cables, or even fibers for carpets and textiles.
Polystyrene (PS): Used in foam products, disposable utensils, and packaging, PS is notoriously difficult to recycle due to contamination and the low economic value of the recycled material.

Challenges with Plastic Types

Certain plastics, such as multi-layer plastics or bioplastics, pose significant recycling challenges. Multi-layer plastics (used in food packaging) combine different types of materials that are difficult to separate, often making them unrecyclable. Similarly, bioplastics, though marketed as eco-friendly, do not break down easily in traditional recycling facilities and require industrial composting.

Each type of plastic has specific recycling requirements, and contamination, such as leftover food or mixed materials, can significantly hinder the recycling process, making proper sorting essential.

Key Questions About Plastic Recycling

How much plastic is recycled each year?

Globally, the plastic industry produces over 350 million tons of plastic annually. However, only 9% of that plastic is recycled. In 2021, it was reported that approximately 32 million tons of plastic waste was recycled worldwide, but the vast majority—about 91%—either ends up in landfills, incinerated, or leaked into the environment. Europe leads the world with a recycling rate of around 32%, while the United States recycles only about 8.5% of its plastic waste. This discrepancy arises largely due to regional differences in recycling infrastructure, consumer habits, and government regulations.

What percent of plastic is recycled?

As mentioned, only 9% of all plastic produced globally is recycled. This figure comes from a 2017 study by Roland Geyer, which was published in the Science Advances Journal. Of the remaining plastic waste, about 12% is incinerated, releasing toxic gases and contributing to air pollution, while the rest—roughly 79%—accumulates in landfills or the natural environment, where it can take up to 500 years to decompose.

What happens to recycled plastic?

Once plastic is recycled, it goes through a complex process to be transformed into new materials. Common uses for recycled plastic include:

PET is often turned into new bottles, food containers, or fibers for clothing.
HDPE can be repurposed into pipes, plastic lumber, or containers for non-food items like detergents.
PP is frequently used in automotive parts, signal lights, and textiles like carpets. However, one of the main challenges is that recycled plastic is often downgraded in quality. Plastics like PET and HDPE can be recycled multiple times, but each cycle weakens the material, limiting its future usability. This concept is known as downcycling.

What plastic can be recycled?

The most commonly recycled plastics include:

PET: Found in soft drink and water bottles.
HDPE: Used for detergent containers and milk jugs.
PP: Found in yogurt containers and bottle caps. However, not all plastics can be easily recycled. Items like plastic bags (LDPE), polystyrene foam (PS), and multi-layer packaging (e.g., food packaging with different materials) are much harder to recycle and are often excluded from municipal recycling programs.

Which plastics cannot be recycled?

Plastics like Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and Polystyrene (PS) are rarely recycled due to technical challenges and the costs involved. Additionally, products made from multi-layer materials—like food packaging that combines plastics with aluminum or paper—are nearly impossible to recycle because separating the layers requires specialized technology. Biodegradable plastics, despite being marketed as eco-friendly, are also problematic since they can contaminate the recycling stream.

What can plastic be recycled into?

Recycled plastic can be turned into a wide variety of products:

PET: Can be transformed into new beverage bottles, food containers, or polyester fibers for use in clothing and carpets.
HDPE: Is commonly recycled into plastic lumber, pipes, containers for household products, and even new HDPE bottles.
PP: Is repurposed into automotive parts, battery cases, signal lights, and durable textiles. In the construction industry, recycled plastics are increasingly used in composite building materials, offering durability and environmental benefits.

How many times can plastic be recycled?

Most plastics, particularly PET and HDPE, can only be recycled about 2-3 times before their molecular structure degrades to the point where they lose functionality. Each time plastic is recycled, its polymer chains shorten, reducing its durability and flexibility. However, chemical recycling—a newer technology—promises to break down plastics into their original monomers, theoretically allowing them to be recycled an infinite number of times without degradation, although this technology is still being scaled.

Recycled Plastic for Food Companies on the Path to Sustainability

As the food industry moves towards sustainability, adopting recycled plastics for packaging is becoming a key strategy. However, balancing environmental goals with food safety regulations presents both opportunities and challenges. Here's a deep dive into the key factors:

Advantages of Recycled Plastics in Food Packaging

Environmental Impact: Reduced reliance on virgin materials directly decreases carbon emissions and resource consumption.
Consumer Demand: Today’s consumers are increasingly eco-conscious. Food companies using sustainable packaging stand to enhance brand loyalty.
Compliance with Sustainability Goals: Many companies are setting ambitious ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) targets, with recycled materials playing a central role.

Challenges of Implementing Recycled Plastics

Food Safety Regulations: Regulatory agencies like the FDA and EFSA set stringent guidelines for recycled plastics that come into contact with food. Ensuring compliance is crucial but often requires advanced cleaning technologies to meet safety standards.
Cost Disparities: The cost of producing recycled plastic, especially food-grade plastic, is higher than virgin plastic due to the extensive cleaning, sorting, and reprocessing steps involved.
Supply Chain Complexity: Controlling the quality of post-consumer plastics for food use can be difficult due to contamination risks, requiring extensive testing and processing to meet industry standards.

Regulatory Considerations

FDA Compliance: In the United States, recycled plastics intended for direct contact with food must adhere to strict regulations, including meeting requirements for contaminant removal, processing additives, and maintaining traceability throughout the supply chain.
European Union Regulations: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) mandates that all recycled plastic materials must be assessed on a case-by-case basis, ensuring they do not pose risks to food safety. Additionally, the EU Circular Economy Action Plan promotes the use of recycled content in packaging as part of its goal to achieve a circular economy by 2050.

Future Trends and Technologies

Chemical Recycling: Innovations in chemical recycling technologies are addressing quality degradation issues by breaking down plastics to their original monomers, allowing them to be reused for food-grade packaging without the risk of contamination. This technology is still in its early stages but promises to revolutionize the use of recycled plastics in the food industry.
Closed-Loop Systems: Companies are increasingly looking towards closed-loop recycling, where they manage the entire lifecycle of their packaging materials. By reclaiming their own waste, food companies can better control material quality and ensure the recycled plastics meet their standards.
New Materials and Packaging Innovations: As the food industry shifts towards sustainable solutions, new materials such as bioplastics and advanced polymers are emerging as complementary alternatives to traditional recycled plastics. These materials can offer comparable durability while meeting stringent food safety regulations.

Conclusion

Recycled plastic presents both a tremendous opportunity and significant challenges for food companies aiming to achieve sustainability. The benefits, from reducing environmental impact to meeting consumer demand for eco-friendly products, are undeniable. However, these advantages come with hurdles like regulatory compliance, costs, and contamination risks. As technology advances, including chemical recycling and closed-loop systems, the future of recycled plastics in food packaging looks promising.

To effectively navigate these challenges, food companies can leverage SGS Digicomply Sustainability Intelligence. Powered by AI, this tool offers automated identification and monitoring of sustainability risks and opportunities, ensuring compliance with global standards and improving sustainability across the food industry.