ILPRA collaborated on developing a technology that consists of skin packaging a plain cardboard, coated with a thin layer of PE, the material which allows the plastic film to get sealed onto the cardboard and steadily hold the product (food) in between. By a “peel off” corner placed on the cardboard, the end user then can: remove the plastic film and dispose of it, then remove the product (food) from the cardboard, and separate the PE coating from the cardboard, and recycle them in their respective bins.
In conclusion, these simple three steps will make a “non-plastic” food tray fully recyclable, which is a cutting-edge development in the food packaging industry.
A lot of progress was made by the reduction of the amount of plastic in the cardboard, so this product can now be considered widely recyclable. Originally, to seal properly, we needed more than 20% of plastic, but through our R&D we managed to reduce down the amount of plastic, whilst maintaining seal integrity, to under 15%, which is considered an acceptable amount for the cardboard tray to be recycled.