The European Union's Food Contact Recycled Plastics Regulation was officially released

On 15 September 2022, the European Commission officially adopted the Food Contact Recycled Plastics Regulation (EU) 2022/1616), which will replace (EC) No 282/2008 and will enter into force
on 10 October 2022.

The new Food Contact Recycled Plastics Regulation requires the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to continue to evaluate the regeneration process of the submitted application in accordance with the relevant standards and to provide a basic opinion on
whether the new technology is suitable for use in the recycling process.
At the same time, Member States, as members of the Regulatory Committee, can also oversee the implementation of new food contact recycled plastics regulations and issue relevant opinions on
whether the recycling process is approved after the EFSA assessment.

In the EU's new food contact recycled plastics regulation, detailed rules applicable to the plastic recycling process are established, including the control of the source of recycled plastics, collection and classification, and decontamination, thus ensuring the removal of possible contaminants and ensuring their safety
.
Compared to (EC) No 282/2008, the new Food Contact Recycled Plastics Regulation also imposes new requirements
on recycled plastics compliance documents and labels.

In addition, a set of evaluation procedures is established in the new food contact recycled plastics regulations to assess whether new (recycled) technologies are suitable for the recycling of food contact plastics, which can effectively support the innovation and development of recycled technologies and be applied to future FCM (food contact materials) recycling under
the premise of ensuring safety 。 The new regulation also establishes a registration system for EU recyclers for recycling processes, recycled equipment, equipment sites, regeneration plans and new technologies, which will be introduced within a few months after the new regulations come into force; This will not only help to increase the transparency of recycled plastic products to authorities and consumers, but will also greatly facilitate the control
of the quality of recycled plastics.

To this end, manufacturers of food contact recycled plastics targeting the European market need to ensure that their recycling processes and products are fully compliant with the new regulations:

◆ For PET physical recycling manufacturers for food contact, manufacturers who have not yet registered the recycling process with EFSA should submit an application for
recycling process registration to EFSA in a timely manner.
(* PET physical recycled plastics that have not applied for registration before July 10, 2023 will be banned from sale
.
) ）

◆ For non-PET physical regeneration processes, that is, new technologies, the resulting recycled plastics for food contact can be produced and sold before July 10, 2023, and if you still want to produce such products thereafter, you need to apply for
the evaluation of new technologies.

(Source: RUI TECHNOLOGIES)