Recycled Yogurt Cup Packaging by Greiner Packaging

The Greiner Packaging’s k3 yogurt cup packaging is manufactured from a cardboard-plastic combination that can be printed on.

This unique yogurt cup packaging is now the center of a project carried out by Greiner Packaging in Switzerland to highlight polystyrene’s recyclability (PS). The vital aim of this project is to made food packaging from recycled PS. 

Mechanically Recycled PS for Yogurt Cup Packaging

The company says that this project marks the first time that 100% mechanically recycled PS has been combined with 100 percent recycled cardboard. The complete solution was tested on the typical Swiss yogurt twin packs – and the results are “auspicious.”

The high levels of purity reached by PS in tests demonstrate its suitability for mechanical recycling. Mechanically recycled PS boasts 99.9 percent purity and thus has the potential to achieve food-grade status. 

Awaited trial Approval for food contact applications

While the PS recycled plastic used in these tests has yet to be approved for food contact applications, the initial trials offer proof that Greiner Packaging is already capable of producing yogurt cups with 100 percent mechanically recycled PS. The certification of the material is already underway. This pilot project was facilitated by Styrenics Circular Solutions (SCS), the value chain initiative to realize the circular economy for styrene polymers. 

Sustainable concept of Yogurt Cup

Sustainable measures for r-PS are currently focused on the benefits of using mechanically recycled PS: a low carbon footprint thanks to sustainable materials and the creation of closed material loops. 

In other words, the recycled material does not need to be mixed with virgin material – so an overall sustainable concept can be realized without difficulty.

Professional Perspective

“The goal of obtaining food contact approval for 100 percent mechanically recycled PS and its process can only be achieved with the responsibility of many companies across the entire value chain. Our activities in this field are currently focusing on our initial tests with a customer in Switzerland,” explains Tobias Strasser, Managing Director at Greiner Packaging Diepoldsau in Switzerland.