ReFOIL is a two-year VLAIO TETRA project (01/11/2017 – 31/10/2019) about the mechanical recycling of multilayer packaging waste, a waste stream that is currently considered non-recyclable.

Plastic packaging generally consist of multiple layers of different polymer materials. These layers are physically connected, as a result of which the different polymers can no longer be separated from each other. Therefore they must be processed together as a mixture during recycling. This has a negative effect on the properties and processability of these mixtures, which makes efficient mechanical recycling very challenging. Many of these packaging materials are therefore not yet recycled, but only processed through incineration with energy recovery.

The general objective of the ReFOIL project is to develop methods for the effective and efficient mechanical recycling of multilayer plastic packaging waste (trays and foils). During the project four different industrial relevant case studies were investigated which contain some of the common used plastic packaging materials (PE, PP, PET, PA and EVOH). Different recycling possibilities were selected and evaluated based on the material properties and processability of the waste streams both as such and/or after upcycling with additives. For each of the cases a suitable application or demonstrator was determined and developed through the principle of ‘Design from Recycling’.