Rigid food packaging based on recycled materials is a rapidly growing segment but has historically been limited by material-related challenges such as brittleness and reduced mechanical performance.

Over the past year, the customer has experienced these challenges in production, where brittleness in thermoformed food trays has led to cracking during end use. To mitigate this, the manufacturer has been forced to adjust its raw material mix by increasing the share of so-called "bottle grade" material and reducing production speed, negatively impacting both efficiency and cost.

Through the use of Nexam Chemical's Reactive Recycling™ additive technology, the customer has been able to return to normal production speed and raw material mix, with a high share of in-house recycled material. The trials demonstrated a reduction in defective products by more than 90 percent.

The collaboration began with laboratory trials in the autumn, followed by industrial trials during the winter. These confirmed the expected improvements in both production and product performance and were supported by an increase in intrinsic viscosity (IV), a key indicator of improved material strength and processability in rPET-based applications.

A full-scale verification test in production, running for approximately one week, is currently ongoing. The material was delivered on an accelerated timeline to enable rapid industrial-scale validation. Based on the results achieved to date, the customer expects rapid implementation of the technology.

The initial implementation targets one specific product segment for one customer. Following this, the manufacturer is expected to expand the technology into additional product segments, representing a significantly larger commercial opportunity as the solution is implemented more broadly.

"Delivering not only improved material properties, but also enabling higher production rates and significantly reduced scrap in industrial trials, represents a clear commercial breakthrough. At the same time, we are addressing a well-known barrier in the transition to 100 percent recycled materials, within a large and structurally growing segment," says Ronnie Törnqvist, CEO of Nexam Chemical.

For more information, please contact:

Ronnie Törnqvist, VD, +46-706 25 41 85, ronnie.tornqvist@nexamchemical.com