INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe has become the first polymer producer in the world to successfully commission a new pilot line that it will use with customers to co-develop recyclable flexible packaging films. The multi-million Euro investment could help to prevent around one million tonnes of waste from being sent to landfill each year1.
The new multilayer, blown film line with Machine Direction Orientation (MDO) has been installed at INEOS’ R&D centre in Brussels, Belgium. It enables customers to carry out full-scale tests without losing production capacity on their own lines. The first collaboration projects are already under way, developing new films that can be applied directly to customer production lines.
Flexible films provide lightweight, low emission packaging for transporting goods, increasing the shelf life of food products. However, today’s multi-material packaging films combine different polymers, each performing different functions, but which in combination make the film difficult to recycle. Making simpler films with the same performance means the new packaging can be more easily recycled, to meet the requirements of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation.
