Smithers report looks at PCR plastic’s near-term prospects

A newly released report from Ohio-based research firm Smithers has been designed to provide a market outlook for food-grade postconsumer recycled (PCR) plastic packaging materials through 2029.

“The Future of PCR for Food-grade Applications to 2029” has been prepared based on “extensive primary and secondary research,” according to Smithers. The firm lists food and packaging industry veteran Jonathan Thomas as the report’s lead author.

According to Smithers, global consumption of food-grade PCR packaging amounted to more than 1.2 million metric tons last year.

From 2019 to 2024, annual growth in market volume averaged more than 9 percent, “driven by strong demand in end use sectors such as food and drinks, as well as greater emphasis on the use of recycled material in the manufacture of plastics packaging,” according to the firm.

Global demand for food-grade PCR within the plastics packaging industry continues to grow, says the research firm, in part because of pressure on businesses to increase the amount of recycled material within their packaging.

However, Smithers ads, the adoption of food-grade PCR in plastics packaging “has been limited by factors such as availability and concerns over the quality of the material.”

For the purposes of its study, Smithers defines PCR as materials generated by household or commercial facilities that “have been recycled into new products instead of being incinerated or sent to landfill.”

Food-grade PCR, the firm adds, consists of resins that have been sourced, processed and decontaminated for reuse in food and beverage packaging by meeting defined regulatory specifications to achieve certification for contact with food. 

One question addressed in the new report is whether automated sorting and the arrival of commercial-scale chemical (advanced) recycling can “transform the market” for food-grade PCR between now and 2029, says Smithers.

Other aspects examined include how the price of food-grade PCR will perform relative to virgin resins and how PCR materials will continue to perform compared with virgin resins when converted into new food and beverage packaging.