The three most prominent firms, ExxonMobil, Ahold Delhaize USA, and Sealed Air, have recently decided to collaborate for working on an Initiative for Recycled Plastics. This initiative aims to recycle flexible plastic obtained from the food supply chain and make it usable for Food Packaging. According to several reports, the actual work on this initiative will begin this summer, which will eventually scale over the passing time.
The Vice President of Polyethylene for ExxonMobil, Mr. David Hergenrether said they are pleased to work with Sealed Air and Ahold Delhaize USA on this new and crucial initiative and that this association is an example of value chain collaboration needed to meet circular economy goals. He said that the company is very excited that their Exxtend Technology is going to be crucial for recycling under this initiative. The President and CEO of Sealed Air, Ted Doheny, remarked that their company is well-known for re-building good quality packaging material and the advanced recycling technology behind doing so. The CEO added that their merger with ExxonMobil would open more prospects for plastic recycling. With Ahold Delhaize USA, they would design a new path for safeguarding food products while working towards a circular economy and low carbon emissions.
As per these three big names, the food industry's biggest challenge is achieving circular economy goals while having a safe and hygienic packaging material to protect and distribute food products. Having such packaging material requires an advanced recycling technology which is more advanced than the previous one.
These organizations have promised to escalate the recycled content into packaging via advanced recycling technology and systematic mass balance attributions. Under this initiative, flexible plastics would be appropriately collected and recycled, followed by their re-use in the food packaging industry. The project primarily aims to enhance the number of times recycled plastics can be used, guarantee the safety of packaged foods, and prevent plastics from overflowing the landfills.
