Citeo boosts France’s recycling capacity with “historical” stakeholder collaborations

27 Apr 2023 --- Through a call for tenders, the main organization in charge of end-of-life household packaging in France, Citeo, has selected two projects to introduce new recycling technologies for PET pots and trays in the country. The selected projects will handle approximately 17,000 metric tons of packaging used to pack fruits and vegetables, pastries, or charcuterie from 2025. 

Citeo has signed a nine-year contract with Paprec to chemically recycle packaging by depolymerization technology to allow reuse for contact with food. 

Mechanical recycling of single-layer trays will be developed, followed by expansion through a commercial partnership with Eastman. Paprec is also building a PET chemical recycling plant in Port-Jérôme-sur-Seine, France. The company will handle 70% of Citeo’s proposed pack recycling activity.

Additionally, a consortium consisting of Carbios, Wellman and Valorplast has been selected to handle the remaining 30%. This consortium will ensure the recycling of mono and multilayer trays from 2023. 

Citeo says the collaborations will create a more circular economy in France.“For the first time in France, the recycling sector for PET pots and trays is bringing together historical recycling stakeholders. This is a first that marks the start of a true circular economy for this packaging, allowing us to mark the start of a true circular economy for this packaging,” Sophie Génier, recycling director at Citeo tells PackagingInsights.

Wellman will initially operate the separation of monolayer trays, which will be recycled mechanically and reused for food packaging. The rest of the stream will be handled by Carbios starting from 2025 at its future plant in Longlaville, France. This plant will reportedly be the first in the world able to biorecycle all types of PET, in particular multilayer. 

Through this project, French company Carbios will apply its unique technology on a large scale, using highly selective enzymes to transform PET pots and trays into PET suitable for contact with food. 

Recycle and reuse 
Citeo details that the food industry PET pots and trays marketed in France have until now been recycled mechanically and only in limited quantities in Europe.

“Some PET pots and trays have complex structures that are necessary to ensure product safety and until now this has made their recycling difficult. 

This new sector of activity will be able to process them and in this sense constitutes a real revolution, a new brick in the ever-growing edifice of the circular economy for household packaging,” Citeo emphasizes. 

The French player aims to reduce the environmental impact of packaging from the companies in the mass consumption and distribution sectors by anchoring a circular economy and eco-design in practices and strategies. 

“Since the creation of Citeo, consumer goods and distribution companies have invested more than €11 billion (US$12 billion) in the development of eco-design, in installing and financing selective collection and in creating recycling channels with their partners, local authorities, sectors and operators,” Citeo says. 

“Today, 72% of household packaging and 62% of paper are recycled thanks to the everyday action of sorting carried out by the French population, an activity which has become the primary eco-citizen action.”

French recycling advancement
Recently, Paprec signed a deal with TotalEnergies to develop a French value chain for advanced recycling of plastic film waste. The advanced recycling plant will be able to process 15,000 metric tons of waste per year and is scheduled to be operational in 2024. 

“The objective in France is to collect and recycle more and more plastics. Through Citeo for packaging but also with our industrial partners. We have designed our plant to meet the anticipated growth of collection of plastics not recycled before,” David Etienne, COO at Paprec Plastiques told PackagingInsights. 

In March, Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) found that installed plastic recycling capacity grew by 17% in 2021 in the EU and the UK due to an estimated €1.75 billion (US$1.85 billion) investment. Despite recent challenges, such as the European energy crisis and low accessibility of sorted plastic waste, the commitment of recyclers to drive the transition toward a circular plastic future remains strong. 

Additionally, global market researcher Innova Market Insights revealed “Plastics circularization” as its leading packaging trend for 2023. Innova Market Insights found that 61% of global consumers believe the increased use of plastic packaging is necessary – although perhaps undesirable – since the COVID-19 pandemic for safety reasons.

Edited by Radhika Sikaria

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