In a major move to speed up the food and drink industry’s transition towards circular packaging, BeFORE – Barrier for Recycling, which is the EU-funded research initiative, has selected the single-layer stand-up pouch from Masterpress as a key plastic case study when it comes to high-barrier recyclability testing.
The BeFORE project, which functions under the 37th CORNET programme, is explicitly designed so as to provide practical data along with the insights that are essential for manufacturers to go ahead and transition from traditional multi-material structures to mono-material designs, thereby ensuring both essential product protection along with compliance with the strict new requirements of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation – PPWR of the EU.
It is well to be noted that flexible, high-barrier packaging is very crucial so as to extend the shelf life when it comes to sensitive products such as food, through protecting against oxygen, moisture, and fats. Historically, these requirements have necessitated intricate and multi-layered structures, which, by the way, are incompatible with most used mechanical recycling systems.
As per Masterpress’ Jakub Pędziński, who is the pouches business development leader, high-barrier flexible packaging has historically been pretty challenging to recycle; however, this project shows how connecting science, collaborative R&D, and industry and legislation can speed up the real change.
The BeFORE consortium, which has in it the industrial manufacturers as well as research institutions from Germany, Belgium, and Poland, is going ahead and studying the real-world performance of such innovative and thin-layer mono-materials in order to make sure that they maintain the barrier integrity in spite of the potential damage at the time of filling and sealing as well as handling.
The contribution by Masterpress to the project is a single-layer and non-laminated polyethylene – PE stand-up pouch. Unlike the standard laminated pouches, which make use of many different materials, which actually confuses the recycling streams, this pouch is constructed with a mono-material PE/EVOH structure, which is engineered to be correctly sorted as well as processed in the existing PE recycling infrastructure.
As part of the work of the project, the pouch is currently going through strict and steep testing throughout several parameters that are critical to food and beverage producers –
- Barrier performance – verification that contents remain protected all across the supply chain.
- Strength along with shelf-life – evaluation when it comes to the resilience of the pouch, especially in terms of sensitive liquid formulations.
- Safety and migration – assessments that are in line with the regulatory needs when it comes to food contact materials.
- Recyclability – evaluations against the global recyclability guidelines.
The findings of the project are intended to directly feed into the wider industry guidance, which includes a comprehensive white paper as well as best practices pertaining to design-for-recycling throughout plastic, paper, and hybrid structures.
The strategic product development & marketing director with Masterpress, Gabriel Magdaleno, went on to note that the initiative is indeed very crucial when it comes to manufacturers who are facing regulatory deadlines. He adds that when we talk in the context of the EU PPWR, BeFORE positions them to enable the brands to navigate the implementation phase of the regulation by making sure that flexible high-barrier packaging can be recyclable and also, at the same time, deliver dependable product protection.
Notably, through offering scientific assessments of functional performance and sortability along with recyclability, the BeFORE project comes with an objective to go ahead and support the industry when it comes to attaining readiness for the mandatory PPWR needs, thereby proving that high-barrier necessity as well as recyclability-by-design can indeed be balanced, and that too successfully. Interestingly, the project is scheduled to run all through February 2027.