Packaging company SÜDPACK has collaborated with Arla Foods to chemically recycle maturing bags for mozzarella cheese and develop a circular business model to reduce the CO2 footprint and consumption of fossil feedstock for cheese packaging.
According to SÜDPACK, the chemical recycling process is intended to keep the plastic within the loop and recycle them back into new packaging instead of being sent to incineration.
Arla Foods, a farmer-owned dairy cooperative, produces mozzarella cheese at Rødkærsbro dairy in Denmark. The cheese is left to mature inside specially designed maturing bags for about two weeks.
These bags are multi-layered to ensure food safety, which is mandatory as per European industry standards. However, this means the maturing bags cannot be recycled using mechanical processes.
Arla Foods lead packaging development manager Grane Maaløe said: “Instead of sending our plastic films to incineration, resulting in a one-off energy gain, we recycle them and use the recycled material to create new packaging thus reducing the carbon footprint as well as the need for virgin fossil feedstock.”
Under the partnership, Germany-based SÜDPACK and Arla Foods will use a pyrolysis process to keep the plastic within the loop, instead of sending them back for incineration.
Arla said that the pyrolysis process changes plastic waste into oil by exposing it to very high temperatures in a controlled environment. This will reduce the use of fossil fuel feedstocks and lower the overall carbon footprint.
To achieve this, both parties will conduct a large-scale test using pyrolysis to transform 80 tonnes of plastic waste from Rødkærsbro dairy every year into new packaging.
Upon completion of the test, SÜDPACK and Arla Foods will assess and decide on the plan of action.
Südpack business unit manager Dirk Hardow said: “Utilising the processing capabilities at our plant in Germany, we can ensure that the films produced for Arla’s cheese maturing purposes do not exit the loop but instead are recycled into new packaging.
“A tonne of mixed plastic does not equal a tonne of new packaging but it does reduce the need for virgin plastic and it paves the way for increased investment in this infrastructure going forward.”
