SABIC recycled PP used in food vacuum system containers

Global chemicals company SABIC says B!Pod, a business unit of Milan, Italy-based Saes Getters, has selected SABIC’s ocean-bound plastic- (OBP-) based polypropylene (PP) resin as the material for their containers.

In close collaboration, the partners selected SABIC PP 576P, a high-gloss grade from the company’s Trucircle portfolio of circular resins. SABIC says the container material has an OBP feedstock content in the range of 50 percent.

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“We are very pleased about working with Saes Getters to help consumers meet the challenge of improving food preservation with a powerful vacuum system that uses containers molded in OBP-based SABIC PP,” says Khaled Al-Jalawi, global director of circular economy business at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia-based SABIC. “The decision to replace standard virgin PP by our OBP material in the containers also marks a significant step towards greater sustainability, as it supports the transformation of the plastics economy towards circularity.”

SABIC says the source of its material is plastic scrap collected in regions with 50 kilometers of shoreline and then is converted to feedstock through advanced recycling. The resin produced with this process is supplied in natural color to Italian thermoplastic resin developer Costruzioni Elettromeccaniche Legnaghesi (CEL), which adds special masterbatches to mold the B!Pod containers in different sizes and several distinct custom colors. At the end of their service life, the reusable containers are fully recyclable in existing PP material streams.

Ginevra della Porta, chief innovation officer at Saes Getters and co-founder of B!Pod, says, “This innovation embraces sustainability from the very concept to end use—with an advanced vacuum technology to minimize food waste, with SABIC’s OBP-based material that prevents used plastic from polluting our oceans, and with containers in a range of colors each dedicated to an endangered species, such as orangutan orange or whale grey, it is designed to raise the awareness of consumers.

“Moreover, our market research has indicated that reusable rigid containers for food preservation can potentially eliminate the consumption of more than 300 nonrecyclable plastic bags per person and year, which corresponds to a per capita release of 30 kilograms of CO₂ to the atmosphere.”

SABIC says its PP 576P resin is approved for food contact and is free of PFAS and BPA. The company says it offers ease of processing and delivers dimensionally stable parts with low warpage, good impact strength and high gloss as molded. The OBP-based product is certified under the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus chain of custody.

The B!Pod containers have been fully rolled out across the European Union, in Switzerland and the United Kingdom as of midyear, with Asian countries to follow in 2025.