GREEN PACK · Fully recyclable 100% PET package for food contact with O2 barrier, improved transparency and low CO2 footprint.

The main scientific and technological objective of the current project is: producing prototypes of fully recyclable PET trays for food preservation by using recycled PET (RPET). The proposed idea will be able to give a solution to this problem by providing a mono-material tray in virgin PET (for food contact) and RPET for the rest of the tray. The necessary barrier properties will be guaranteed by an active oxygen barrier.The second objective of this project is: the study, designing and dissemination of a dedicated recycling model, inspired to replication and spreading of the recycling model of the 100% PET soft drink bottles, in the post-consumer phase, adapting its characteristics to the specific food package features. The recycling model will focus on the management of a ""cradle to cradle"" loop, from and to the starting manufacturing process, promoting the reduction of manufacturing costs and the carbon foot print of PET packaging for food.Although PET packaging solutions currently on the market fully satisfy the required performances, with respect to each single application, there is still a lack of these performances to be bridged respect to the basic need of the PET trays recycling. The main drawbacks of the current solutions for the PET trays manufacturing are due essentially to the presence of different plastic materials in the packages. In other terms they are manufactured by sticking different layers of different plastic materials, PET included. The multi-material feature poses severe limitations, and sometimes the impossibility, to the effective recycling of manufacturing scraps and of the trays at the end of their life. The major outputs and results of the project will be exploited by the participant SME-AGs on the following markets: 1) PET additives