GCR Plastic Solutions and RIGK GmbH initiated a strategic collaboration to carry out an advanced industrial recycling trial for post-consumer packaging from the German PAMIRA system and the sector-specific GVÖ scheme, with the aim of ensuring the highest levels of quality, traceability and safety for technical applications.
Credit: GCR
Pictured during the testing at GCR’s facilities are Mr. Markus Dambeck, Chairman of the Management Board at RIGK GmbH, and Mr. Santiago Sans, Industrial and Innovation Director at GCR.
RIGK is one of Germany’s leading collective Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system providers and operates under the German Packaging Act. The company works with major chemical industry groups such as BASF, Covestro, LANXESS, Evonik and Wacker Chemie. Accordingly, together with the industry, RIGK operates take-back and recycling solutions for industrial, commercial and agricultural packaging – including PAMIRA, the sector-specific system for used plant protection product and liquid fertiliser packaging. These schemes are characterised by high collection rates, pre-washing protocols and strong traceability – as is GVÖ, an independent sector-specific system operator for lubricant packaging. For the recycling trial, RIGK (via PAMIRA) and GVÖ provided a controlled collection and pre-treatment framework, ensuring high traceability at source and consistent input quality.
The trials were carried out at one of the most advanced mechanical recycling facilities in Europe, operated by GCR Plastic Solutions. The plant forms part of a strategic €100 million investment programme designed to anticipate and respond to the requirements of the upcoming Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), reinforcing GCR’s long-term commitment to industrial-scale, high-quality circular solutions. The trials incorporated the latest available technologies in hot washing, advanced sorting systems and extrusion, including reinforcement boosters and high-efficiency deodorisation units. The objective was to ensure that the recycled material could be safely reintroduced into the production cycle, enabling true circularity without risk of undesirable interaction with residual chemical substances that may have been contained in the original packaging streams.
In response to the upcoming PPWR and the increasing responsibility placed on packaging producers, highly demanding and cost-intensive processes were implemented to guarantee the highest levels of quality, consistency and safety. These advanced treatments were essential to ensure that complex post-consumer industrial packaging streams could meet stringent technical and regulatory requirements for new circular applications.
The project was also supported by GCR’s Innovation Division, a specialised technical unit composed of 58 professionals and equipped with a comprehensive laboratory infrastructure unique in its integrated approach to circular materials. Beyond advanced material characterisation – including mechanical testing, rheology and contaminant analysis – the Innovation Division is capable of simulating customers’ production processes at pilot scale. This allows validation not only of material purity and compliance, but also of real industrial performance under application-specific conditions.
GCR’s facilities are equipped with state-of-the-art gas and liquid phase chromatography, enabling in-depth analytical control of the recycled pellets at levels of precision not commonly available in the market. This capability allowed full validation of material purity, volatile compounds and potential contaminants, reinforcing confidence among converters and brand owners seeking reliable circular raw materials.
Following the successful validation of the process and material quality, several leading European industrial packaging converters expressed their commitment to proactively anticipate the requirements of the PPWR by progressively integrating these recycled materials into their production, once full technical compliance and consistency were demonstrated.
The objective of the initiative was to provide security, confidence and reliability to the European industrial packaging sector by confirming that these complex streams could be reintegrated into the production cycle with robust technical, analytical and traceability assurance, in line with the objectives of the upcoming European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.
The trials took place at GCR Plastic Solutions’ facilities at the end of February and included the visit of Markus Dambeck, Chairman of the management at RIGK GmbH, highlighting the technical relevance of the project within the German industrial packaging ecosystem. Over two days, intensive washing, separation and advanced analysis were carried out to validate the quality of the recycled material.
“This project represents a decisive step in demonstrating that complex industrial streams, when properly managed at source, can be transformed into high-value recycled raw material with full analytical control and traceability,” says Santiago Sans, Industrial and Innovation Director at GCR. “Our objective is to offer major European converters technically reliable and consistent material.” Markus Dambeck adds: “For RIGK, it is essential to work with partners capable of meeting demanding quality and verification standards. These trials enable us to move towards increasingly robust and transparent recycling solutions for industry.”
Through this initiative, both organizations consolidated a collaboration aimed at raising industrial recycling standards in Europe, demonstrating that the combination of traceability at source, rigorous processes and strict analytical validation is key to building strong and credible circular value chains.
The project was launched with a clear objective: to eliminate contamination and volatile compounds—an achievement that traditional recycling systems have not been able to deliver. First test results indicate that volatile substances have been successfully removed, preventing cross contamination and reaching purity levels that were previously considered unattainable. In the coming months, an extensive series of trials will be conducted in collaboration with leading players in the sector to further validate these results.