Recycling options for multi-layer packaging

Partners of the innovative ‘Virtuous Circle’ project have announced the results of ground breaking research into new recycling options for multilayer food packaging at trade fair Interpack. The findings shed new light on the potential of this type of packaging to be ‘upcycled’ for use in products of value in a circular economy.

Multimaterial multilayer films are an innovative type of packaging used to preserve food and to protect it from contamination or from oxygen that would lead to faster degradation of food. Multi-layer packaging, while highly effective, has been criticised for being challenging to recycle due to the challenges of separating the different layers and sorting them by type. In addition, the general preconception is that even if these materials can be technically recycled, the resulting raw material is of such poor quality that it effectively amounts to ‘downcycling’.

One of the core aims of the ‘Virtuous Circle’ project, launched in South Africa in October 2016, has been to challenge these assumptions. Project partners DuPont and Rural Waste Poverty Alleviation Solutions (RWPA) have worked together on testing innovative methods of creating new products of genuine value from multilayer film packaging after it has served its original purpose. http://thevirtuouscircle.co.za