Identify Safety Barriers to Broad Adoption of Recycled Polyolefins for Food Packaging

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Clean, Safe Recycling

Advancing Clean Recycled Plastics

Defining a path to the production of clean recycled plastics is key to their sustainable use in food and beverage packaging. Despite significant advances in recycling science, obstacles remain to broad utilization of recycled plastics including the need for reliable and predictable sources of safe and inexpensive post-consumer products. This project will identify key elements in generating clean recycled plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and use that as a model for improving safety of recycled “challenging” plastics such as polyolefins. The project will also identify potentially hazardous intentionally and non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) in recycled plastic and sources of contamination. Lastly, the project will lead to a roadmap to resolve safety issues and enhance adoption of a wide range of recycled plastics.

The Food Packaging Safety & Sustainability Committee funds external researchers and convenes experts to promote the recycling and sustainability of food packaging while maintaining and enhancing its safety. See recent publications and upcoming events to learn more about the committee’s work.

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Project Investigators

Greg Curtzwiler, PhD
Iowa State University

Committee Publications

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Understanding intentionally and non-intentionally added substances and associated Threshold of Toxicological Concern in post-consumer polyolefin for use as food packaging

Heliyon, 2024

This study identifies potentially harmful substances in polyolefin samples from material recovery facilities using gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry.

Read more about Understanding intentionally and non-intentionally added substances and associated Threshold of Toxicological Concern in post-consumer polyolefin for use as food packaging

Machine-Learning-Based Predictions of Polymer and Postconsumer Recycled Polymer Properties: A Comprehensive Review

ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2022

Machine learning (ML) algorithms are gaining attention as cost-effective scalable solutions to exploit the physical and chemical structures of polymers. The basic steps for applying ML in polymer science such as fingerprinting, algorithms, open-source databases, representations, and polymer design are outlined in this review.

Read more about Machine-Learning-Based Predictions of Polymer and Postconsumer Recycled Polymer Properties: A Comprehensive Review

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