Innovia to extend portfolio of recycled-content films

Material developer and producer Innovia Films has announced the launch of an extension to its range of sustainable films, which are now available for trialling.

The extension to the Encore range of sustainable biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films includes the use of chemical recycled polymer for food-contact applications.

The company is also working closely with Prevented Ocean Plastic (POP) and have developed a film with 30% POP material. In all cases the key functionality of the BOPP films remains intact and they are comparable to virgin-grade materials.

The environmental credentials of the films can be improved further by reducing the quantity of fossil-based virgin materials and replacing with bio-based polypropylene.

Simon Huber, Managing Director Innovia Europe, said: “One big cornerstone of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is the integration of a certain percentage of recycled post-consumer content into plastic packaging. This regulation will have a huge impact on how brands are going to design their packaging and the motivation for this regulation is to reduce the per capita quantity of packaging.”

Steve Langstaff, Head of Recycling at Innovia Films, said: “Flexible packaging, being lightweight and highly resource efficient, can help reduce the total amount of packaging being used and has a much lower CO₂ footprint regarding transportation than many rigid alternatives. Innovia is working with the whole value chain in initiatives like CEFLEX (Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging) to increase the recycling of this flexible packaging back into film. The inclusion of recycled content in new films is top of the list for much of the industry — moving from a linear to a more circular system.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Kwangmoozaa