SABIC and Polivouga, a manufacturer of flexible film products with operations in Portugal, launched a new innovative TRUCIRCLE project designed to reuse post-consumer plastic waste recovered from areas up to 50km inland from waterways that has the potential to end up in our rivers and oceans.

The collaboration with the Nueva Pescanova Group, a Spanish brand owner specializing in the fishing, farming, processing and marketing of fresh, chilled and frozen seafood products, has resulted in the development of the world’s first frozen food packaging solution using SABIC’s certified circular polyethylene from feedstock sourced from ocean bound plastic. The new sustainable packaging will be launched to coincide with World Oceans Day 2022.

The ocean bound plastic is converted using advanced recycling into an alternative feedstock which SABIC uses to produce certified circular polymers — SABIC LLDPE (linear low density polyethylene) and LDPE (low density polyethylene) — for further processing to flexible packaging film by Polivouga. Nueva Pescanova then packages its frozen seafood in bags made from this film.

The collaboration is SABIC’s first TRUCIRCLE project using recycled ocean bound plastic in certified circular polyethylene. Sami Al-Osaimi, VP PE & Sales at SABIC says, “This is an exciting circular packaging solution for us, since it demonstrates how used plastic that has the potential to end up in our oceans, can be brought back into a circular material stream to be converted into high quality food packaging. It also underlines SABIC’s commitment to the United Nations’ Strategic Development Goal #14 for ‘Life Below Water. The results once again demonstrate the art of the possible when dedicated value chain partners collaborate with the aim of making a difference.”

Ignacio González, CEO of the Nueva Pescanova Group says, “As a seafood company, it is our great responsibility to care for the seas and oceans, the ecosystems on which our activity depends and which we must all take care of together. With this initiative, we will prevent this plastic waste from reaching the marine environment, giving them a new life. We have set ourselves the goal of making 100% of our packaging recyclable by 2025 and, through this action, we will be one step closer to achieving this.”

The ocean bound plastic based solution is fully certified under the Zero Plastic Oceans program and the International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) PLUS chain of custody. This means that the material flow is controlled and tracked from the ocean bound plastic to the final packaging following a set of predefined and transparent rules. 

“The project reaffirms the determined journey we have embarked on with SABIC to drive circularity in our industry and takes it one step further, enabling us to provide our customers with premium flexible film products now also based on mixed plastic waste that could otherwise pollute our seas and waterways,” says Tiago Barros, CEO at Polivouga. “Besides delivering a food-contact approved polyolefin product, these ocean bound plastic PE films ensure the same tear and puncture resistance as competing PE packaging structures made from virgin fossil PE resins.” 

SABIC’s certified circular polymers form part of the company’s TRUCIRCLE portfolio and services for circular solutions. The offering also includes design for recyclability, mechanically recycled products, certified renewable polymers from bio-based feedstock and closed loop initiatives to recycle plastic back into high quality applications and help prevent valuable used plastics from becoming waste.