Indorama and Evertis collaborate on r-PET food tray packaging

        As the world's most recycled plastic today, PET is driving sustainable growth due to its recyclable, flexible, safe and lightweight properties. Recently, Thai chemical company Indorama announced a partnership with Evertis, a manufacturer of monolayer and multilayer semi-rigid films. The two companies plan to jointly develop an r-PET film for food packaging trays based on recycled polyester bottle flakes.

        Evertis's films target an average content of 50% recycled materials.

        Indorama has spent six years developing r-PET flakes from post-consumer PET food trays and can now produce them commercially at its Verdun facility in France. The flakes are sold under Indorama’s Deja brand, its umbrella brand for sustainable, high-performance products with less environmental impact. The quality of the flakes is comparable to flakes made from bottles, therefore expanding the availability of r-PET flakes available to packaging producers who are working to meet their recycled content targets.

        “PET food tray packaging is key to providing safety and convenience to consumers, ensuring food is preserved longer and reducing waste. Our industry has had a goal for some time to create circular solutions for these essential products,” explained Marta Matos Gil, Chief Sustainability Officer at Evertis. “We can create a true circular economy by developing the infrastructure and capabilities to collect, sort and recycle r-PET trays and convert them into valuable raw materials. This is very important in the current market, where customers are facing new packaging regulations and consumers are concerned about the environmental impact of the products they buy.”

        Partnering with Indorama will make even more possible and help Evertis achieve its sustainability goals. Indorama said the new recycling technology has the potential to divert more than 50 million post-consumer r-PET trays per year from landfill or incineration, depending on annual capacity, supporting the EU's plastic collection and recycling targets.