A demonstration recycling plant for flexible plastic films developed by Nextek and Coveris has started operating at Coveris’ ReCover facility in Lincolnshire, UK, after its announcement last year.
The COtooCLEAN site is intended to process post-consumer polyolefin film waste, including polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), into recycled resin for potential food-contact uses.
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Its current launch phase is being positioned as a preparatory step in efforts to enable compliant recycling of post-consumer flexible packaging for food-grade applications.
The technology was developed by Nextek and expanded with Coveris.
It is designed to deal with contamination trapped within plastic films. The process uses supercritical CO₂ extraction to remove oils, odours and older residual substances that standard mechanical recycling methods may not fully remove.
Nextek founder Edward Kosior said COtooCLEAN offers “a critical complementary step to unlock higher-quality recycled materials and enable true circularity for flexible films”.
The companies said the higher level of decontamination is expected to support the supply of food-grade recycled content by helping meet regulatory requirements and cutting dependence on virgin plastic.
Built with financial support from the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, the plant moved into an industrial phase this month.
That stage is expected to provide operating experience at a larger scale and produce the data needed for European regulatory approval, as well as test scalability and commercial viability.
Alliance to End Plastic Waste president and CEO Jacob Duer said: “COtooCLEAN has the potential to improve both the rate and quality of flexible plastics recycling. This demonstration plant is an important step in validating the technology and supporting its path to wider deployment.”
Industrial-scale trials are due to begin this month and are intended to generate the two years of data required by European regulators.
Coveris Group innovation manager Bernhard Mumelter commented: “This project marks the next step in advancing Coveris’ No Waste vision, with ReCover playing a central role in keeping plastics circular. With COtooCLEAN now fully operational, we are taking an important step in preparing to solve the food-grade recycling challenge for flexible films.”
Coveris recently invested €1.8m ($2.1m) in two manufacturing facilities in Poland.
