IN Brief:
- EFSA has assessed the Bandera Twin process for recycling post-consumer PET into food-contact materials.
- The opinion focuses on decontamination performance and safe use in regulated packaging applications.
- Food-contact recycled plastics require traceable inputs, validated processes, and disciplined technical documentation.
EFSA has published a safety assessment of the Bandera Twin process used to recycle post-consumer PET into food-contact materials, adding another regulatory reference point for recycled plastic use in food packaging.
The assessment concerns a recycling process registered in the EU system for recycled plastic materials. It examines whether post-consumer PET can be decontaminated to a level suitable for food-contact applications when processed under defined technical conditions and supported by challenge-test evidence.
Recycled PET is one of the more established recycled plastics in food packaging, particularly in bottles, trays, and thermoformed formats. Its position has been helped by collection systems, recognised decontamination technologies, and stronger market demand for recycled content. Yet food-contact approval remains process-specific. A recycled polymer cannot be treated as safe simply because it is PET or because it has passed through a recycler.
Food-contact recycling starts with an unavoidable uncertainty: post-consumer plastic may have been exposed to substances outside its intended use. Recycling systems must therefore control input quality and demonstrate that potential contaminants are reduced to safe levels. Washing, drying, extrusion, vacuum, residence time, temperature, filtration, and post-treatment steps all become part of the safety case.
The Bandera Twin opinion lands in a regulatory environment where recycled content is moving from voluntary commitment to compliance requirement. The EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation is increasing pressure on recyclability, recycled-content targets, and technical documentation. Retailers and brands are also asking suppliers for stronger evidence around material composition, food-contact status, and end-of-life performance.
Recent pressure around PPWR transition arrangements has already shown how packaging declarations, PFAS compliance, stock management, and documentation are becoming practical operational concerns. EFSA’s recycled PET opinion sits within that same data-heavy landscape. Packaging choices now depend on validated processes as much as on material availability.
Recycled PET offers several advantages to food manufacturers and packaging converters. It supports recycled-content targets, reduces dependence on virgin fossil-derived polymer, and can deliver transparency, stiffness, and processability in established formats. The constraints are equally important. Food-grade recycled PET can be expensive, supply can be tight, and quality depends heavily on collection, sorting, and recycling discipline.
As targets rise, the gap between recycled material demand and approved food-contact supply could widen. Non-food recycled plastics cannot simply be diverted into food packaging if they lack the necessary approval route. That creates commercial value for processes that can demonstrate decontamination performance and comply with EU expectations. It also increases the importance of supplier qualification and documentation across the packaging chain.
Technical files are becoming more central to procurement. A packaging buyer needs to know not only the recycled-content percentage, but also the source of the recycled resin, the approved process behind it, the intended food-contact conditions, and any limits on use. Time, temperature, food type, layer structure, and functional barriers can all affect whether a recycled material is appropriate for a given pack.
Mechanical PET recycling has advantages because it is established and can deliver high-quality output when feedstocks are controlled. The next phase of food-contact recycling will also include more debate around polyolefins, multilayer materials, chemical recycling, and mass-balance claims. PET provides a more mature route, but it does not remove the need for regulatory scrutiny.
The Bandera Twin assessment reinforces a simple operational reality: recycled content in food packaging cannot scale on procurement targets alone. It needs approved technology, clean inputs, validated decontamination, and traceable documentation. As recycled materials become a larger part of packaging strategy, the approved process behind the material will become as important as the material itself.
