An Alliance to End Plastic Waste report says high-quality film can be made from household flexible plastic waste, setting out the technical and economic requirements to scale advanced mechanical recycling for flexible packaging.
The study, titled 'The Quest for Quality: Scaling Advanced Mechanical Recycling to Meet Recycled Content Targets for Flexibles', examines a 50,000tpa [tonnes per annum] advanced mechanical recycling facility for flexible plastics.
It said that post-consumer household flexible plastics can be turned into high-quality recyclates and sets out the conditions needed for commercial scale-up.
Among its findings, the report says household flexible plastic waste can be processed into recyclates suitable for use at levels above 30% in film applications such as shrink films, labels and pouches.
This can be done with existing sensor-based sorting systems, hot-washing processes and double-melt filtration technology.
The document also points to wider policy and financing measures needed to support projects, including effective Extended Producer Responsibility schemes, compulsory recycled content requirements and concessionary capital, alongside a market approach based on premium recyclates and reliable end-demand.
It is published as brands, retailers and packaging manufacturers prepare for the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation, which requires 35% post-consumer recycled content in non-food packaging by 2030.
The study found that chemical and advanced mechanical recycling are likely to serve different parts of the flexible waste stream and different end-uses.
It cites multi-material films for food-contact applications as an area expected to be served by chemical recycling.
The document highlights capital spending pressures, adding that greenfield civil works account for 31% of CapEx while complex sorting equipment represents 25%.
To improve project viability, the report outlined that operators should consider upgrades at existing brownfield sites and move more sorting activity upstream to centralised Plastics Recovery Facilities.
The report builds on the ValueFlex project, which was launched in 2022 by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, CEFLEX, Roland Berger and HTP Engineering to develop a commercially viable 50,000tpa advanced mechanical recycling system for household flexible plastic packaging waste.
Alliance to End Plastic Waste president and CEO Jacob Duer said: "Flexible plastic packaging is one of the most challenging packaging formats to recycle at scale, but it is also one of the most important to get right. The technology needed to produce high-quality recyclates already exists.
“The challenge now is scaling these solutions commercially through stronger alignment across the value chain, supported by the policy and financial enablers needed to unlock investment. At the Alliance, our role is to bring together stakeholders and accelerate the adoption of scalable solutions.”
