Project R-9842

Circopack: Safe and efficient food packaging within the circular economy (Research)

This project aims to develop a scan for companies that makes it possible to make well-considered decisions regarding the selection of raw materials (bio-based, recycled, …) for food packaging. This should give the companies the required baggage and tools to adapt their packaging policy as optimally as possible to the circular economy while maintaining the required functionality and safety for their packaging. After all, food packaging still faces a number of major challenges in the coming years. On the one hand, they are crucial in maintaining the quality of packaged products and can thus contribute to reducing food losses. On the other hand, companies are increasingly confronted with questions from different angles concerning the type of packaging with regard to environmental friendliness (e.g. migration from recycled material). The latter cannot be separated from the strongly increasing attention for circular economy in food packaging with very ambitious objectives within Europe: • Recycling of 65% of household waste by 2030 • Recycling of 75% of packaging waste by 2030 • Reducing landfill of domestic waste of 10%. Next to the above target that by 2030 all plastic packaging on the EU market should be either reusable or recyclable. All of this means that a company will increasingly be confronted with the question of which type of raw material is the most optimal for the packaging of its specific food. This decision-making process will also have to consider the required functions of the packaging, the possible sorting and recycling functions of the packaging and how this will ultimately affect the sustainability of the packaged product.

01 April 2019 - 30 June 2022