Circular Collaboration Platform: for more recyclates in food packaging

The share of recycled material in plastic products is growing. The exception: food packaging. The requirements for the quality of the material for food contact are high, but in the case of recyclates there is still often a lack of corresponding information today. The project COPPA ("Open Circular-Collaboration-Platform for Sustainable Food Packaging from Plastics") wants to create transparency in this area – with an open digital platform.

In an interview with K-MAG, Dr Hermann Achenbach talks about the goals of COPPA, how an internet platform can help to increase the share of recycled material in food packaging, and how digitalisation and sustainability are linked.

Dr Achenbach, in Germany, only 9 % of the plastics used annually in packaging are recyclates. Why is that?

Dr Hermann Achenbach: German manufacturers currently use about 370 tonnes of PCR recyclates to produce new packaging. That more is not possible at the moment is due to the fact that food packaging in particular has to be made almost 100 % from primary plastics, since secondary plastics often still lack the quality required for food safety. 

With the COPPA project you want to change that. What are the goals of the project?

Achenbach: The EU wants to achieve a PCR recycled content of 10% in food packaging by 2030. The new EU Regulation Recyclates in Food Packaging (EU 2022 / 1616) aims to ensure the safety of food in packaging made from recycled plastic. New rules apply to novel recycling technologies and the assessment of recycling processes. Actors in the value chain must therefore create transparency on the origin and quality of recyclates used.

As a result, COPPA should be an open and scalable Circular Collaboration Platform (CCP). As a cross-company information concept, the COPPA internet platform should enable seamless tracking of secondary plastics for food packaging. Then, among other things, it will be possible to prove that recycled materials are suitable for food packaging. Through this, we ultimately want to increase the use of PCR plastics in food contact packaging.

Who can use the platform? What information is stored there?

Achenbach: All stakeholders involved in plastic food packaging, i.e. plastics processors, packaging manufacturers, brand owners and food retailers as well as sorting plant operators and recyclers.

In addition to the proof of origin and quality, other functions such as the transfer of carbon footprint values for materials or information on the recyclability of products will be integrated. This is to be made possible via data exchange in digital product passports.

How will the work with it then look in concrete terms?

Achenbach: All stakeholders who have an interest in increasing the recycled content in food packaging can make data entries in pre-processed digital product passports and share them with their business partners via COPPA. As the system will use a standardised traceability solution (EPCIS standard), the aim is to ensure that cross-company data exchange works well. For example, a recycler can enable a brand owner to track which recycling processes were used to prepare their raw material. A food manufacturer can use it to ensure that its products are packaged in a food-safe manner even with the use of recycled material. The result of this newly gained certainty should lead to the actors in the value chain being willing to use recyclates.

Who are the cooperation partners and what expertise do they each bring to the table?

Achenbach: In the consortium we combine expertise from research and industry through 7 consortium partners. Das Kunststoff-Zentrum SKZ and the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy contribute knowledge in the field of sustainability, Circular Economy and plastics. The Forschungsinstitut für Rationalisierung (FIR) of RWTH Aachen University is active in the field of business transformation. GS1 Germany GmbH, as a standardisation organisation, underpins the market economy orientation of the CCP. The European EPC Competence Center (EECC) operates in the market as a leading provider of traceability solutions, while Infosim GmbH & Co. KG covers the areas of network management and ERP systems. The consortium is rounded off by the Reifenhäuser Group, which supplies equipment for the production of plastic packaging.

Since an internet platform can only develop its function through users, numerous associated partners are also involved in the project. These partners are companies along the entire value chain of food packaging that are to participate in the development of the platform in a practical way and make the added value of the platform visible in a pilot phase.

In your opinion, what potential does digitalisation have when it comes to making plastics and corresponding products more sustainable?

Achenbach: The increased use of digital technologies can bring progress for recycling at almost every point in the plastics life cycle. Examples include tracer-based and digitally-standardised traceability solutions to materials and products, AI-based data analytics applications for the processing of plastic waste, AI-based pattern recognition in the sorting of plastic waste and digital marketplaces for simplified trading of secondary plastics. The potential of these technologies seems far from exhausted. However, their market success will ultimately also depend on the framework conditions that are set and on whether investment security can be created through a political commitment to the Circular Economy and corresponding incentives.