Major Breakthrough in Plastic Waste Recycling: A New Industry Standard

The overwhelming amount of plastic used every day has created a massive pollution problem worldwide. Thankfully, many recycling companies are working on long-term solutions. Cirrec is a waste management brand that focuses on making food packaging fully circular. Based in the Netherlands as a part of the Faerch Group, Cirrec has integrated Tomra Recycling's flake sorting units into its facilities, according to Recycling Portal. This is making it possible for the company to recycle more post-consumer PET food trays into new food trays of the same quality, faster and more efficiently. The machines can sort diverse plastic flakes by polymer and color, even from contaminated sources. They can also more effectively sort plastic scraps from other materials, such as metal, wood, and rubber. "This pioneering project is setting a new industry standard, truly changing how PET food trays are recycled and speeding up the move towards a fully circular economy for food packaging," said Riccardo Succi, segment manager plastic at Tomra, per Recycling Portal. "It's also a strong example of how cutting-edge technology can support plant owners in discovering new business opportunities — whatever the market conditions." This partnership has helped Cirrec double its recycling capacity and produce PET flakes that are higher quality and consistently at food grade. The flakes are turned into pellets, which are then used to make new food trays. According to the company, this method could be extended to other recyclers in Europe. "We use our technology to regenerate European household waste and produce raw materials for food grade packaging — closing the loop on PET food packaging," Cirrec said on its website. "Simply put, we take back wasted material and revitalize it — ensuring that energy is saved, and valuable materials are kept in the economy — and out of the environment. This process reduces the CO2 footprint and decouples the material from the virgin material production." Closing the loop on plastic recycling would be a major advancement in the fight against plastic pollution, but we can't fully recycle our way out of the crisis we're facing. Using less plastic and finding alternative materials and products is essential for the environment and for building a cleaner future.