AUSTRALIA – Protective food and packaging company Sealed Air Corporation has partnered with ExxonMobil on a first-of-its-kind food packaging tray circularity initiative in Australia.
Under the partnership, SEE Australia will offer its CRYOVAC® brand preformed food packaging trays containing resins leveraging ExxonMobil’s Exxtend™ technology for advanced recycling and mass balance attribution.
This collaboration will divert approximately 900 tonnes of plastic waste annually from landfill or incineration.
Alessandra Faccin, President of SEE Asia Pacific said: “This partnership opens up new possibilities in recycling high-performance materials.
“For SEE, it puts us closer to achieving our 2025 sustainability and materials pledge. Collaboration with our partners is key to driving the adoption of a circular business model, and this is exactly what we’re doing with ExxonMobil.”
As one of the first such initiatives for fresh red meat trays in Australia, the collaboration addresses the critical challenge in driving a circular economy for food-grade plastics with strict hygiene and performance requirements for food protection and distribution.
The collaboration between SEE and ExxonMobil will help to advance the sustainable design of CRYOVAC® brand food packaging trays beyond recyclability by helping to improve plastic circularity.
In this project, SEE Australia will start introducing circular trays to the Australian market with the intention to move its entire Australian-made tray portfolio to the new solution over time.
The resins and tray manufacturing are certified to the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS standard, and the circular trays are curbside recyclable within Australia.
The project will help support innovation to widen the range of plastics that can be recycled, while ensuring the safety and quality of packaged fresh foods.
Kwee-Lin Chan, General Manager, Asia Pacific Advanced Recycling and Sustainability for ExxonMobil added: “We are delighted to work with SEE on this important project and excited that our ISCC PLUS certified-circular plastics leveraging Exxtend technology and mass balance attribution will play an important role in helping to address a challenge facing the food industry.
“This partnership marks an important milestone for certified-circular resins to be used to produce tray packaging solutions for retail.
“It’s a significant extension of our collaboration with SEE and helps demonstrate the importance of value chain collaboration to support the circular plastic economy.”
In May this year, Sealed Air Corporation rebranded to SEE to reflect its reinvention strategy. The company said that the move represents the next stage in reinventing.
The three crescents that make up the circle represent automation, digital and packaging with the full circle representing SEE’s commitment to sustainability and circularity.
For all the latest packaging and printing industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, like us on Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
