Trinseo and German plastics developer Fernholz have teamed up to develop a new grade of post-consumer recycled polystyene for use in food packaging.
The two businesses are working closely to incorporate the American company's newly-idealised 40% r-PS into the sheet production by embedding the polymerisation process using solvent solutions.
These recycled sheets can be applied as food packaging in compliance with global food safety regulations.
“With r-PS technology, we have developed a process that will help the plastics industry conserve resources and reduce oil consumption,” said Nicolas Joly, Vice President Plastics & Feedstocks at Trinseo, adding: “We are very pleased to work with Fernholz as our collaboration partner to jointly respond to consumer and market expectations, offering companies a tangible solution for more sustainable packaging.”
Full-scale field tests for processing, migration, sensory testing and other common parameters have revealed that r-PS can be readily processed on classic FFS machines, eliminating the need for costly equipment upgrades.
Uwe Fernholz, Managing Director at Fernholz, said: “The feedback we have received from customers so far has been overwhelmingly positive.
“The market has been waiting for a solution like this for a long time. As a result of the positive feedback, we are very confident that this breakthrough in recycled packaging made from polystyrene will help the value chain to meet its sustainability goals.”
Several European dairy companies have already begun to trial r-PS, including some who have launched new products featuring the polystyrene as its primary packaging.
Owing to its nature as being one of the few products of its type with post-consumer resin (PCR) content, Trinseo is able to provide companies with several hundred tons of the material.
Furthermore, the use of mono-material packaging, while recommended, is not entirely necessary due to the recycled source of the primary polymers featuring in r-PS, meaning the packaging can be recycled again for future use.
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