Petcore Europe (Brussels; www.petcore-europe.org), has announced the launch of its Tray Circularity Evaluation Platform (TCEP), which was first proposed last year.

Supporting the interests of the European PET industry, Petcore Europe said the platform is backed by the tray manufacturers groups European Association of Plastic Recycling and Recovery Organisations and Plastics Recyclers Europe. The scheme seeks to improve tray-to-tray circularity and recyclability and plans to do so by promoting new thermoformed PET container innovations and evaluating and promoting the recyclability of thermoformed PET container technologies and products on the market.

The TCEP is said to feature PET experts whose skillsets cover thermoform design, production, and recycling. The platform is to evaluate existing technologies and innovations, and provide an independent and confidential assessment of the impact on the PET recycling processes across the EU.

Petcore noted that PET-based trays represent approximately 55% of recycled plastics, and the roll-out of the TCEP was just the first step towards the PET circularity.

“There is a growing interest in the collection of PET trays for specific recycling activities. Nonetheless, more work must be done,” Petcore said. “Besides separate collection and proper sorting of trays and other PET sheet-based products, design for recycling is still a major tool to boost the PET circularity”