Infia, one of the fresh produce industry’s leading packaging suppliers, says it will no longer produce standard plastic packaging made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) after converting all of its production lines to use only 100 per cent recycled materials.
The Italian company is understood to have spent several years and a sizeable sum of money to invest in research and development as well as new machinery to adapt its entire manufacturing operation – which extends to both Italy and Spain – to the new system.
“After many years of effort and huge investment in machinery and R&D, Infia is proud to announce that the all the PET production lines in Italy and Spain will be converted from PET to 100 per cent recycled (RPET),” the company said in a statement.
“This will provide a type of packaging that has the same transparency and resistance as the one obtained from virgin raw material and that, at the same time, guarantees perfect sustainability at every level, dramatically reducing the environmental impact.”
Using only recycled materials, RPET is environmentally and economically sustainable, Infia noted, as the cost difference compared with using more traditional raw material is moderate.
When it comes to food safety, certified processes of recycling post-consumer waste materials are in place to ensure sustainability in that area too.
With more than 70 years of experience, Infia operates in almost 80 countries and has apparently been investing for many years to convert its production plants so they can use these post-consumer materials instead of virgin plastics – even before the recent heightened consumer interest in the environment and recycling.
“Today, it is the only company in the field on the world stage, that offers recycled material supply to its customers, according to their needs and without any limit of quantity, thanks to the coverage of all its productive capacity with 100 per cent RPET,” it added.
EFSA approval
Infia said it had recently concluded a programme of authorisation for its so-called Supercleaning Process, in conjunction with the European Food Safety Authority.
That means it can recycle and therefore produce its own food-grade plastics in order to offer products that are made from completely recycled, safe and sustainable materials, with benefits in terms of energy, use of natural resources and gas emissions.
Introducing 100 per cent RPET is the latest innovation in the group’s Infia 4 Earth project.
“The project has been undertaken by the company in the last few years, to adjust all the business processes to the principles of sustainability, both in terms of energy savings and reduction of waste throughout the food chain, of which packaging can be a considerable support when it can combine its role as cluster with the one of protection tool for food.
“All of this is done by paying specific attention to the innovation of the products, both from a functional and an aesthetic point of view, always in compliance with traceability and food safety.”
