Packaging group Mondi (Vienna / Austria; www.mondigroup.com) has further developed its "BarrierPack Recyclable" laminate to make it suitable for more applications. Thanks to the addition of another gas barrier layer between the two layers of PE film, the material can now also be used as modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) for food products, adding to its initial applications in dry food, food ingredients, personal care and pet-care.

Carl Stonley, technical account manager at Mondi Consumer Goods Packaging, said BarrierPack Recyclable represented a major breakthrough for flexible packaging as it can be recycled, unlike laminates made of different materials. He noted that flexible packaging was growing in popularity among consumers and commented, "BarrierPack Recyclable is a highly functional, flexible packaging material that's easy to open and reclose for consumer convenience."

According to Mondi, its material is stiffer, stronger and lighter than a conventional PET/PE laminate of the same thickness and it can be formed directly on form-fill-seal (FFS) machines as well as used for pre-made packaging. The company added that the laminate’s ability to be fully recycled has been validated by extensive trials at recycling technology company, CeDo Recycling (Geleen / The Netherlands; www.cedo.com).

The product has already captured the attention of judges for the 2018 "Plastics Recycling Awards Europe", who on 25 April in Amsterdam, named it as the "Best Technology Innovation in Plastics Recycling." Ton Emans, managing director at CeDo Recycling and president of Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsrecyclers.eu) said, "Before the European Commission announced a strategy in January 2018 to ensure that all plastics packaging is recyclable by 2030 [see Plasteurope.com of 19.01.2018], Mondi had already brought BarrierPack Recyclable to the commercialisation phase. This innovation not only shows that flexible plastic packaging can become truly circular, but also that we can produce, use and recycle it on a large scale. Flexible material designed for recycling is key to enabling circular safeguards of precious resources in Europe."