Circular FoodPack aims to promote the circular use of plastic packaging, focusing on one of the most critical product categories: food. The primary role of food packaging is to protect products during transport from manufacturer to consumer while maximizing shelf life, thereby reducing food waste and its associated carbon footprint. As a result, food packaging must meet high standards, including being lightweight, impermeable, tear-resistant, printable, and appealing to touch, all while ensuring it does not release harmful chemicals into the food.

Circular FoodPack addresses these needs by focusing on food packaging for dry products like packed creamer, cocoa, and coffee powder, as well as packaging for personal care products (e.g., face masks) and home care items (e.g., detergents, wipes). The project partners are exploring newly developed Tracer-Based and Sensor-Based Sorting systems that enable precise sorting using advanced tracers and detection mechanisms. Once sorted, the packaging materials undergo processes such as washing, deodorizing, delamination, deinking, dissolution, and purification through the CreaSolv® Recycling Process, followed by mechanical recycling.

Throughout the project, recycling strategies and the resulting secondary raw materials will be continuously evaluated for food safety, environmental impact, social acceptance, product quality, process efficiency, economic feasibility, and legal compliance. The recyclates will then be used to produce new, high-performance mono-material food packaging that adheres to eco-design principles and is easy to recycle at the post-consumer stage.