European consortium Ceflex (www.ceflex.eu) has launched an open consultation to refine its proposed guidelines for recycling flexible packaging. More than 80 stakeholders and 100 experts have provided input for the “Designing for a Circular Economy Guidelines”, which aim to build an understanding of end-of-life processes, give practical support and advice on circular economy design principles and make clear design choices for recyclability.

Ceflex said it now wants the entire flexible packaging industry and other interested parties to provide their feedback. The consultation period is open from 6 December 2019 to 17 January 2020. The consortium plans to publish the document in the first quarter of 2020.

In the first phase, the guidelines are focusing on polyolefin-based structures, which account for the largest share of the post-consumer flexible packaging waste stream and also have proven and industrial-scale sorting and mechanical recycling technologies across Europe. Second and further phases will target more complex packaging structures and specific areas under consideration, such as chemical recycling, re-use and reduction.