Like its contents, the packaging developed for the new Gutfried organic poultry sausage line produced by Zur Mühlen Gruppe has been produced as sustainably as possible – in this case, using recycled plastic ultimately derived partly from plastic waste.
The packaging has a multi-layered structure with films produced by film manufacturer Südpack, a company that has long experience in working with recycled materials.
Both the bottom film and top film each consist of several layers of different polymers, with BASF supplying the polyamide and Sabic supplying the polyethylene.
Both resins are based on chemically recycled raw materials from mixed plastic waste. During the chemical recycling process of mixed plastic waste, the used plastic is converted into pyrolysis oil in a high-temperature process. Like fossil based raw materials, this oil is then used at the beginning of the chemical production chain, thus saving conventional crude oil. The recycled content is allocated to the chemical end products via a mass balance method, and the products have the same high quality and performance as new products.
Sabic launched its line of chemically recycled products from the Trucircle portfolio over a year ago.
BASF launched its ChemCycling project a few years ago and worked on numerous prototype packaging projects prior to proceeding to commercialise the products produced using the process.