Syensqo recycles PVDC-based multilayer food packaging in PE waste stream

Syensqo has completed its polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) recycling initiative, showing that PVDC-containing multilayer food packaging can effectively be recycled within a standard PE-based waste stream.

“Recyclability is the main requirement for food packaging nowadays. Multilayer films possess outstanding properties and are essential in food packaging, having a strong positive environmental impact by reducing food waste,” says Federico Baruffi, global marketing manager for Packaging at Syensqo. 

“However, due to their particular composition and structures, they have previously been considered impractical for mechanical recycling, which is the most common method in the industry.” 

“Our tests have now demonstrated that film structures using our Ixan PVDC product are fully compatible with existing mechanical PE recycling. Notably, the resulting recycling can give used food packaging a second life in other applications and open new opportunities for sustainable material management without the addition of any stabilizers.”

Boosting plastic recycling

PVDC provides food packaging with an oxygen and water vapor barrier. The tests were performed with structures for high-barrier meat packaging using PE/EVA/Ixan/EVA/PE multilayer films. Syensqo explains that the structures’ impact on the recycling process was evaluated based on a reference sample of real flexible packaging waste.

The tests were conducted by CSI, a provider of testing and certification services for controlled environments. 

Syensqo says that the trials have proven that multilayer food packaging with PVDC can be mechanically recycled in an open loop approach together with PE waste, “enabling the efficient, flexible and sustainable reuse of the resulting feedstock in injection molded items such as flower pots, pallets, and benches,” according to the company. 

The recycler says that the findings are a “significant achievement,” as an increasing number of European initiatives aim to improve plastic packaging recycling. 

The trials were conducted in compliance with EN 13430, which defines the requirements for packaging material recycling in Europe. The multilayer Ixan PVDC structures passed all testing without any critical issues in grinding, subsequent washing/drying, extrusion/pelletizing, and injection molding even at 220 degrees Celsius.