New publication grants insight into the mechanical recycling of PE/PA multilayer films

New publication grants insight…

In a new publication, BASF and Institute cyclos-HTP reveals details of the mechanical recycling of coextruded flexible packaging films containing polyamides (PE/PA multilayer films). The independent testing and certification body cyclos-HTP systematically investigated the recyclability of PE/PA multilayer films on behalf of BASF and confirmed it in June 2021. The results and conclusions of these investigations are now available in a 25-page publication on the websites of BASF and cyclos-HTP.

In the tests, coextruded PE/PA multilayer films with PA6 and PA6/6.6 concentrations of up to 30 percent were used with tie layer materials. Based on the established CHI standard, cyclos-HTP tested the recycling compatibility and recyclability of these films in the PE film stream from commercial sorting processes for household flexible plastic packaging waste.

cyclos-HTP is already using these updated results for the differentiated certification of the recyclability of individual flexible PE/PA packaging structures by performing case-by-case reviews of packaging structures that were previously classified as incompatible for recycling (according to section 4.3 of the minimum standard for determining the recyclability of packaging subject to system participation pursuant to section 21 (3) VerpackG, Central Agency Packaging Register, 2021).

The publication is accessible via the following links: https://chemicals.basf.com/global/en/Monomers/polyamide_intermediates/mechanical-recycling.html and https://www.cyclos-htp.de/publications/.