Increasing the circularity of high barrier flexible plastic packaging - Results from WP1: Market analysis

Plastic packaging constitutes a large part of the total plastic use in Sweden. However, only a limited fraction of all packaging put on the Swedish market each year is recycled. One of the reasons for this is the complex design of many plastic packages, which contributes to challenges when sorting, disassembling, and recycling the collected material into high-value applications. Flexible plastic packaging, namely films, used for packaging groceries/food are especially challenging when it comes to mechanical recycling. This category includes countless multi-layered film structures which often include, for example, barriers and adhesives that may affect the sorting and recycling of the material. The aim of the first work package was to conduct an initial market analysis to map and quantify the current and future use of complex high barrier laminates, both multi-material structures and mono-materials structures, on the Swedish market. The market analysis was carried out by studying available literature, both scientific and grey literature, as well as through interviews with relevant stakeholders.