To help customers align with the upcoming stringent tax system, AVI has launched ready-to-adopt rPET (recycled PET) punnets containing 30% post-consumer recycled content (typically recycled bottles), verified by global certification and testing company InterTek. These offerings are 100% recyclable, with no toxic additives
The development is intended to comfort and ease sourcing mandates of fresh produce businesses having to deal with the new environmental taxation system. The Plastic Tax is expected to impact around 20,000 manufacturers, users, and importers that now face a looming compliance burden.
The company is dedicated to helping businesses gear up for new environmental regulations that incentivize the use of recycled plastic and curb the usage of precious virgin fossil-based resources. Our sustainability plan includes prioritizing circular packaging development in sync with evolving plastic waste regulations and consumer demand for authentic sustainability actions.
Last year, AVI introduced 100% food-grade recycled PET clamshells and punnets to entirely eliminate virgin material use and optimize our partners’ carbon, water, and energy footprints. The rPET used in these offerings is derived from an EFSA-approved recycling process.
With our rPET punnets, the company helps fruit retailers switch to better plastic with no compromise in clarity, strength, and machine parameters. Our heat-seal punnets and clamshells meet preferred packing design standards and are fully compatible with high-speed, automatic filling & sealing lines across Europe. Using our experience and technology, AVI enable partners to derive further savings by down-gauging their packs by up to 10% without affecting performance.
The features of the new 30% rPET punnet and some its benefits include:
- 30% recycled content verified by InterTek’s Sustainable Recycled Content Programme
- Compliance with European Commission and FDA standards for food safety and quality
- Proof of sustainability claims to address the need for authentication by regulators and consumers
- Enables the use of a descriptive environmental label mentioning 30% recycled content use for consumer education
- Carbon-emission and landfill waste savings through increased recycling of discarded post-consumer PET bottles
- Improved speed-to-market with first-time-right and authentic PCR based packaging
- Savings on expensive testing costs
(Photo credit: AVI)