Launched in October 2020, the Nextloopp initiative, a project that has developed commercially-proven methods to separate food-grade polypropylene (PP) from post-consumer packaging using marker technologies, continues to grow. The project creates food-contact approved PP packaging with 100% recycled content.
Its chapter in the Americas has now welcomed a new vice president, Marcio Amazonas. The Brazilian has over 30 years in managing sustainability strategies and technological innovations in the packaging and waste management industries. His leadership will be instrumental in the deployment of Nextloopp Americas’ food-grade rPP technologies across North and South America.
“Marcio brings invaluable expertise in navigating complex supply chains and fostering key strategic partnerships,” said Professor Edward Kosior, founder of Nextek Ltd and President of Nextloopp Americas. “His proven track record in driving sustainable innovations aligns perfectly with our mission to fast-track the deployment of Nextloop technology across the Americas.”
UK-based Nextek founded Nextloopp in 2020 after eight years of extensive research to enable food-grade recycled PP to be produced from post-consumer waste. The initiative has attracted over 50 stakeholders, including brands, retailers, packaging converters, material suppliers, waste recyclers, universities, and technology partners. Through these collaborations, Nextloopp has developed and trialled grades of high-quality food-grade rPP resins using Nextek’s PPristine decontamination technology. PPristine is a two-stage process to decontaminate PP in the melt and solid state to remove any residual chemicals.
“I’m excited to join Nextloopp Americas at a time when the urgency for innovative solutions to plastic waste is at an all-time high,” Amazonas said. “Together, we will drive the large-scale production of high-quality rPP resin that can be fast-tracked into locally-produced rPP food-grade packaging to meet the needs of both businesses and consumers.”
Nextloopp Americas is actively seeking participants from across the PP supply chain to join the project. Members include Braskem, the largest plastic producer in the Americas.
PP accounts for around 20% of the world’s plastic. In Europe, PP consumption is around10 million tonnes per year. While consumer packaging - pots, tubs, trays and films for food packaging - is a major application representing around 40%, it is also a common choice for non-food household and personal care products.
Yet very little of this is recycled. At the end of life, PP packaging mainly goes to waste-to-energy, landfill, or is down-cycled into low-performance applications. The absence of food-grade recycled PP means that all PP food packaging is currently made from virgin plastics.
NextLoopp is tackling the problem with solutions that include commercially-proven marker technologies to separate food-grade PP and sophisticated decontamination stages to ensure compliance with food-grade standards in the EU and the United States.