Innovia Films and PureCycle Technologies have successfully produced and evaluated a white cavitated biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film containing more than 40% post-consumer recycled (PCR) polypropylene, marking a development in the use of recycled content for flexible packaging applications.
The film was manufactured using PureCycle’s PureFive Choice recycled polypropylene resin and is intended for applications including snack packaging, confectionery wrappers, ice cream novelty packaging and roll-fed labels. According to the companies, white cavitated BOPP film is widely used in food-contact packaging due to its opacity, lightweight structure, printability and moisture barrier properties.
During the trial programme, Innovia Films assessed the resin throughout the cavitated BOPP production process. The companies reported that the recycled-content material demonstrated processing behaviour comparable to conventional virgin polypropylene grades used in commercial film production. Testing also indicated comparable mechanical, barrier and sealing properties to films produced from virgin polypropylene.
Chris Freshwater, market manager at Innovia Films, said the project supports the company’s efforts to increase recycled content in film products while utilising recycling technologies capable of recovering polypropylene from post-consumer waste streams.
The development comes as packaging producers and brand owners face increasing recycled-content requirements under regulations such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes and the European Union’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). The companies said the new film provides an additional option for incorporating recycled polypropylene into flexible packaging formats that have historically faced challenges in adopting PCR materials.
PureCycle stated that the PureFive Choice resin used in the project was specifically formulated for film applications and is designed to enable the incorporation of recycled polypropylene without significant changes to existing film manufacturing processes.