17 Aug 2021
TRUCE: another important step towards a truly circular economy
Puratos have set the goal for our packaging materials to become fully recyclable or reusable by 2025. To accelerate this process, we teamed up with suppliers, sector organisations, universities and other key innovative players in the packaging value chain. We have now joined forces in the TRUCE project. This project aims to develop new building blocks for highly functional, flexible packaging solutions as well as a lean recyclability protocol. The innovations pursued within this project, with respect to end-of-life of plastic packaging, are yet another important step towards a truly circular economy.
TRUCE: teaming up to make a difference
TRUCE stands for ‘True Recycling Upscaling of Flexible Packaging in the Plastics Circular Economy’. In this project, Puratos partners with Amcor, Borealis, Bostik, Eastman, Puratos and Ghent University, and the project is supported by Flemish spearhead clusters Catalisti and Flanders’ Food. Tim van Caelenberg, Packaging Development Manager at Puratos, explains: “We joined forces with other innovative players to develop new packaging solutions for highly functional, flexible packaging to pack some of our sensitive ingredients for bakery, patisserie and chocolate. This investigation includes a lean recyclability protocol to get the emptied packaging materials back into resource.”
The TRUCE project will run for two years and is financed through Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO), with a total budget of €2.3 million.
An important step towards a truly circular economy
Van Caelenberg continues: “By involving a wide range of industrial partners throughout the value chain, the TRUCE project enables Puratos to test the developed structures on dedicated packaging lines at industrial scale. This is a critical step towards product testing in an operational environment and assuring functionality of the packaging towards the shelf-life performance of the packaged goods.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will help quantify the environmental sustainability performance of the new innovative packaging designs in specific applications. All in all, the results of this project will represent yet another important step towards a truly circular economy.”
COVID-19 won’t stop the transition to more sustainable packaging
“Within the field of sustainable packaging, there is currently a lot of innovation ongoing. Driven by many factors and stakeholders in the field, the transition towards more sustainable packaging has irreversibly started and will not be stopped by COVID-19 or any other macroeconomic event.
Part of this drive is pushed by the public opinion on packaging which has not changed over the last few years, by the impact of the media, and also by new laws and regulations coming into force in the upcoming years. Single-use plastics taxations are in preparation and on the rise. The impact of the Green Deal in Europe, and other climate commitments in China and the US will play a driving role. And companies that succeed in making these transition towards sustainable packaging are positively rewarded.”
Teaming up to make a difference
A very important development in packaging sustainability is the focus on its end-of-life of packaging: what happens to it after it’s been used to pack food? “At Puratos, we have set the goal to become 100% recyclable or reusable by 2025. A very ambitious target, that will be hard to reach all by ourselves. That’s why we are teaming up with our suppliers, sector organisations, universities and knowledge centres to support us in achieving our goals. One example thereof is the TRUCE project: ‘True Recycling Upscaling of Flexible Packaging in the Plastics Circular Economy’. In this project, Puratos joins forces with key innovative players in the packaging value chain to develop new packaging solutions for highly functional, flexible packaging. The innovations pursued within this project, are yet another important step towards a truly circular economy.”
Learn more about sustainable packaging
Do you want to learn more about sustainable packaging, and the steps that Puratos is taking towards a circular economy? Read all about sustainable packaging, find out how COVID-19 impacted developments in sustainable packaging, or be inspired by these 7 sustainable packaging ideas for takeaway and delivery.
