KP Tray2Tray calls for circular economy drive

Klöckner Pentaplast (kp) is marking the second anniversary of its award-winning Tray2Tray initiative with a call to action urging the industry to help drive the initiative further by creating separate recycling and sorting systems specifically for pots, tubs and trays.

National regulations and policies have resulted in a growing demand for rPET in packaging products as manufacturers seek to reduce costs in a post-Covid marketplace. As all packaging producers in food and drink demand recycled material, it is now essential to separate food packaging from bottle flake to meet demand. 

Worldwide, kp is implementing kp Tray2Tray in its operations, with its pilot site in Pravia, Spain, now using up to 30 per cent kp Tray2Tray flake in a range of thermoformed products. This site has qualified certification from RecyClass. Another five sites in the UK, Portugal, Spain and Germany are producing rigid films for form, fill and seal applications using kp Tray2Tray as part of their extrusion processes, with sister site INFIA also incorporating it into its fruit punnet production processes.

Adam Barnett, President, Food Packaging at kp, said: “For several years, we’ve been driving multiple work streams globally, collaborating with the entire value chain, including recyclers, expert partners, governments and other stakeholders, to establish new ways to collect and process separate streams of rPET tray flake. Our ultimate aim is to help build the new infrastructures and incentives to collect, sort and recycle, ensuring wherever we operate we will enable full tray to tray circularity. Now we call upon our customers, the retailers, to extend this to the industry, pledging to help us create further demand for tray to tray material inclusion in their products.”

In 2021, kp launched its ‘Investing in Better’ with the aim of closing the loop, working smarter and acting responsibly. Under the ‘Close the Loop’ objective, at least 30 per cent of the post-consumer recycled material in their packaging will be from kp Tray2Tray material by the end of 2025. Currently, 10 per cent of its post-consumer recycled content comes from trays.

The awards won by kp Tray2Tray were gained in 2021. These were Sustainable Supplier of the Year at the Footprint Awards, and Best Food Packaging in the Liderpack Awards.