To achieve the EU’s climate goals and meet the ambitious targets for minimum recycling content set in the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation a circular recycling of food packaging back to food packaging is essential. However, currently, this is only possible for one type of plastic: PET. All other plastic that currently ends up in plastic waste, can only be downcycled to other applications.

The main hurdles on the way to a circular recycling of food packaging are safety concerns. For all unknown contaminants an absolute worst case has to be assumed in the safety evaluation by EFSA: a DNA-reactive mutagen, with 120-fold lower thresholds than any other substance group. This wor ...