Regulatory and Safety Requirement for use of recycled Polyethylene in Food and Cosmetic Packaging

Abstract

Post-consumer resin, or PCR, is the technical term for recycled plastic. Plastic waste is collected, sorted, and re-purposed to make various types of new packaging. This includes ocean plastics, which are post-consumer resins made from plastics that are headed to oceans but picked up for recycling before they end up in oceans. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) are the most frequently recycled polymers where PET and HDPE bottles comprise 97.1% of the United States plastic bottle and packaging market. The greatest challenge to using PCR plastic is the potential chemical migration of contaminants from the plastic packaging into the package contents. This potential chemical contamination is often higher in PCR material as compared to virgin material due to the migration from and to the plastic during its lifetime. There are regulatory requirements to ensure safety of PCR in food packaging, but there are no clear guidelines for cosmetic industry to ensure their safe in cosmetic packaging. In this book chapter we will summarize the challenges for using recycled polyethylene, the global regulatory requirements for their use in food packaging and learning that can be applied for their safe use in cosmetic packaging.