Sealed Air, ExxonMobil and Ahold Delhaize partner on advanced recycling “US first”

21 Apr 2022 --- Sealed Air is joining forces with ExxonMobil and supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize USA on an advanced recycling initiative said to be the “first of its kind” in the US. 

The project recycles flexible plastics from the food supply chain and remakes them into new, certified circular food-grade packaging. The initiative is expected to begin this summer and scale up over time. 

Brittni Furrow, vice president of health and sustainability at Ahold Delhaize USA, says the project “has the potential to radically change the way retailers and manufacturers leverage food-grade recycled plastics as a key means of keeping plastics out of landfills.” 

“We’re eager to learn from this work and apply the learnings to advance our own plastics ambitions, but also advance these efforts broadly, helping to ensure a better tomorrow for our planet.”

The project will connect the value chain to prevent food waste, says the collaboration.A critical challenge facing the food industry is driving a circular economy for plastics using packaging materials that have strict hygiene and performance requirements for food protection and distribution. 

Recovering these essential packaging materials requires innovative recycling solutions beyond traditional mechanical recycling.

Collaborating against landfills
The collaboration will help increase the use of recycled content by validating the technical and economic viability of a certified circular system based on advanced recycling technology and mass balance attribution, says Sealed Air. Flexible plastics will be designed to be collected, recycled, and repurposed into new food packaging. 

The project will also help keep used flexible plastics out of landfills, increase the number of times essential plastics can be recycled, and ensure the safety and quality of packaged foods.

“Sealed Air is leading the packaging industry by showing how high-performance packaging materials can be designed to be remade. Advanced recycling is key to these valuable materials being collected and remanufactured,” says Ted Doheny, Sealed Air’s president and CEO. 

“Our collaboration with ExxonMobil is opening new recycling possibilities. By partnering with leading retail group Ahold Delhaize USA, we are paving the way for our industry to protect perishable foods while creating a low-carbon, circular economy.”

David Hergenrether, vice president of polyethylene at ExxonMobil, also says: “This relationship is an example of the value chain collaborations needed to enable a more circular economy. We are excited that certified circular plastics from our Exxtend technology for advanced recycling will play an important role.”Chemical recycling facilities are steadily growing around the world.

Chemical recycling 
Dozens of new advanced recycling facilities are currently being launched globally, with Rabobank experts predicting that chemical technologies will come to be a major aspect of the waste management industry. It is predicted that by 2025, well over 200 such projects will exist. What the feasibility and impact of these projects could be remains uncertain.  

This year, WWF released an announcement declaring its position on chemical recycling, stating that it is “an emerging technology with unknown environmental and social outcomes.”  

Recently, the Consumer Goods Forum published an independent scientific study along with 16 major packaging players, demonstrating that the chemical recycling of hard-to-recycle plastic waste could reduce plastic’s climate impact compared to waste-to-energy incineration.  

The paper also provides a set of principles for the chemical recycling industry’s credible, safe and environmentally sound development, which it says can be used to make sure advanced technologies produce positive social and environmental outcomes. 

By Louis Gore-Langton

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