IN Brief:
- Scanfill has launched Scanfoil rPP POP, a food-contact polypropylene foil containing 30% post-consumer recycled PP.
- The material is suitable for chilled, frozen, microwave, and sterilisation packaging applications.
- Food-contact recycled PP is gaining attention as packaging teams prepare for recycled-content and PPWR requirements.
Scanfill has launched Scanfoil rPP POP, a food-contact-approved polypropylene foil made with 30% mechanically recycled post-consumer PP and 70% virgin material.
The recycled content comes from plastic cups collected from coastal areas in Southeast Asia through Prevented Ocean Plastic supply chains. The material is designed to offer properties comparable with virgin PP while giving food packaging manufacturers another route to recycled-content packaging in polypropylene formats.
Scanfoil rPP POP is available as part of Scanfill’s wider polypropylene foil range, with thicknesses from 350 to 1200 microns and widths up to 1450mm. The material is approved for food contact, suitable for refrigerators and freezers, compatible with microwave use, and able to withstand sterilisation processes.
Polypropylene has long been used in food packaging because it combines low density, moisture resistance, heat resistance, and good processability. It is common in thermoformed trays, tubs, lids, microwaveable packs, and chilled or frozen food formats. Recycled PP has been slower to progress in food-contact applications than recycled PET, largely because post-consumer PP streams are more varied and approval pathways have been less mature.
The launch of a food-contact rPP foil is therefore a useful addition to the packaging material mix. Food manufacturers and converters are under growing pressure to specify recycled content, but food-contact compliance remains a hard boundary. A material must be suitable for the intended food, temperature exposure, filling process, storage condition, and regulatory market before it can be treated as a straightforward substitute for virgin polymer.
Scanfill’s PP platform includes options such as transparency, HiClear grades, colours, EVOH barrier structures, easy seal, anti-fog properties, and bio-circular variants. That breadth reflects how recycled-content packaging is becoming more engineered. Recycled polymer alone does not solve the pack specification if the final material cannot form cleanly, seal reliably, present the product well, or survive distribution.
The same regulatory pressure is visible across recycled PET, where scrutiny of food-contact recycling processes has intensified. The principle is similar across polymers: food-contact recycled materials depend on validated input streams, controlled processing, and robust documentation. In polypropylene, the opportunity is substantial because so many rigid and semi-rigid packs rely on the material.
Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation requirements are also increasing the need for evidence. Recycled-content claims, food-contact declarations, recyclability assessments, and material documentation are becoming routine parts of packaging specification. Tools designed to reduce the PPWR documentation burden are emerging because manufacturers will need proof, not assumptions, when packaging data is requested by customers or regulators.
Thermoforming performance will be central to adoption. A recycled-content foil must behave consistently during heating, forming, cutting, filling, sealing, and lidding. Variation in stiffness, colour, odour, clarity, or mechanical strength can create line waste or make the material unsuitable for premium food applications. Commercial volume and batch consistency are therefore as important as the recycled-content percentage.
Chilled and frozen foods are likely to be important markets because they need moisture resistance, toughness, and cold-chain stability. Microwave and sterilisation applications demand more from the material, particularly around heat exposure, dimensional stability, and seal integrity. Those categories will test whether recycled-content PP can move from sustainability trials into routine industrial use.
Scanfill’s launch adds to the gradual shift from broad recycled-content ambition toward food-contact-ready materials with defined performance parameters. Polypropylene will remain central to food packaging, but future growth will depend on materials that can satisfy regulators, run on existing equipment, and protect products without adding avoidable complexity to production lines.
