LONDON (ICIS)–UK waste management and
recycling major Biffa has signed a long-term
food-grade recycled high density polyethylene
(R-HDPE) pellet supply agreement with Muller
UK, the company said in a statement.
Biffa could not confirm the volume covered by
the agreement or its length, but a company
source said that announcements of similar
supply agreements with other companies were
expected in the next few days.
The material will be used in Muller’s milk
bottles and will be sourced from post-consumer
milk bottles.
In the UK, plastic milk bottles are
manufactured from HDPE, while across the
majority of Europe polyethylene terephthalate
(PET) is used.
This gives the UK a unique supply of easily
sorted and separated supply of food-contact
post-consumer material that is not available
elsewhere in Europe.
The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) dictates
that food-grade approved material must have
originated from waste containing at least 95%
food contact post-consumer waste.
Although some food-grade material across Europe
is manufactured from post-industrial
agriculture, meat, and in-transit packaging
materials, volumes are small and the UK is the
major source of food-grade HDPE in Europe.
There is no equivalent source of post-consumer
low density polyethylene (LDPE). The UK
collects around 100,000 tonnes/year of
post-consumer milk bottles.
Shortages of food-grade material have limited
market growth and fast moving consumer goods
(FMCG) adoption across recycled polyolefins.
Major recycled polyolefin packaging growth is
predominantly coming from the cosmetic and
household goods sectors. Players in these
sectors are not legally mandated to use
food-grade material, although they
traditionally have in order to easily reach
technical specifications.
Cosmetic and household goods firms are
gradually shifting to other material types –
most commonly natural pellets – but this is a
slow process because of long testing cycles of
typically up to 18-months.
ICIS has launched a new Europe recycled
polypropylene (R-PP) price report covering
post-consumer and post-industrial bales, flakes
and pellets. To subscribe to the new report, or
for further information, please contact
[email protected].
Click
here to see regulatory targets and a
list of chemical and mechanical recyclers on
the ICIS Circular Economy topic page.
