ILIP IS LEADING THE PACK IN TERMS OF RECYCLED PET USE, WITH 30,000 TONNES OF PLASTIC BEING REUSED EACH YEAR
The company has been authorised by the EFSA to produce food and fruit & vegetable packaging made from 100% food grade r-PET. Thanks to the closed cycle, the company has prevented 75,000 tonnes of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere
VALSAMOGGIA (BO, xx December 2018) – 30,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET bottles re-inserted to the production cycle each year (equal to the entire number of PET bottles recovered in the Emilia Romagna region), and 75,000 fewer tonnes of CO2 released into the environment thanks to the replacement of virgin PET.
These are the results that have been achieved thanks to the use of recycled PET by ILPA group, for which ILIP is the main company. The company, which is one of Europe’s leading producers of plastic food packaging, is capable of supplying 100% FOOD GRADE r-PET products, suitable for direct contact with foodstuff, thanks to a decontamination process that’s been authorised by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
“Awareness of sustainability is closely linked to ILIP’s identity and the responsibility we assume as producers of plastic packaging. We were among the first in our sector to tackle this issue with concrete investments and projects,” explains Roberto Zanichelli, ILIP’s Business Development & Marketing Director. “In Europe, the challenge for the future will be the spread of the circular economy, and we’re already at the forefront thanks to the establishment of a closed PET cycle within the group.”
In fact, with its companies AMP, ILIP and MP3, ILPA Group was the first in Europe to achieve complete control and management of the r-PET recycling process (closed loop). It has been independently managing the post-consumer bottle supply and recycling chain since 2012, and only makes use of recycled post-consumer r-Pet flakes internally. All the various steps of each individual process are therefore monitored directly, from selection, washing, grinding and extrusion, all the way up to the production of the new food packaging materials in r-PET.
“This closed loop process is a fundamental element for the circular economy,” Zanichelli continues, “and it allows us to select and track the post-consumer material from the very beginning, as required by the current legislation. Our ultimate goal is to achieve the “ILIP punnet 2 punnet” cycle, in which each punnet re-enters the production cycle after consumption in order to be “reborn” as a new product. It’s a virtuous chain that, as the numbers show, significantly reduces the carbon footprint of the entire production process.”
ILIP is currently capable of supplying recycled plastic fruit & vegetable trays with an r-PET content ranging from 85% to 100%, depending on the customer’s requirements.
ILPA Group is a member of the Thermoforming Working Group established by Petcore Europe (the association that represents Europe’s entire PET chain), whose purpose is to promote the recycling of food trays and packaging materials in PET and rPET, and is also associated with PSE (Pet Sheet Europe), an organisation established in 2016 as a sectoral unit of EuPC (European Plastics Converters), which is responsible for promoting the use and recycling of PET and rPET packaging.