The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Letter of No Objection for Revolution’s proprietary recycling method to produce post-consumer recycled, linear low-density polyethylene (PCR-LLDPE) for food contact applications. PCR produced under Revolution’s process can be used at content levels up to 100% in the manufacture of food contact articles for all food types under nearly all Conditions of Use as defined by the FDA. This reportedly marks a first-of-its-kind milestone for the recycling and consumer packaging industries.

A Significant Breakthrough in Flexible Plastic Recycling and Potential Solution to Consumer Packaging Sustainability

The announcement of Revolution’s FDA LNO represents a step forward in addressing the increasing global need for flexible film recycling and sustainable consumer packaging. In recent years, consumer awareness and demand for recycled content has risen dramatically as organizations such as the U.S. Plastics Pact have set aggressive targets to achieve as much as 30% recycled content in plastic packaging by 2025. Increased demand for recycled content has driven the need for recyclers to meet the quality standards and food contact requirements set by consumer packaging applications. Revolution says its advancements in flexible film recycling holds promise to bridge this gap by providing the widest possible applications to date for the use of LLDPE PCR in flexible films.

Developing a method to meet food contact quality PCR represents the culmination of a long-term development project undertaken by the Revolution team. Revolution leveraged its more than 25 years of flexible film recycling experience to develop new proprietary processes, testing methods and quality control measures to meet the stringent requirements specified by the FDA.  “This was a multi-year, targeted project to improve our process, and it has really paid off in showing what can be done with recycled content. We feel this is just the beginning of tremendous growth and application development for PCR in flexible films,” says Scott Coleman, SVP of Strategy and Growth at Revolution.  

Revolution expects additional approvals and advancements based on this first benchmark, paving the way for further innovation in PCR production. The company is currently expanding capacity and ramping up processes to meet market demand. “We are committed to redefining what is possible for flexible film recycling, and the FDA LNO is just the next step in our progress towards even more flexible film solutions that deliver true sustainability to our customers and the consumer packaging industry as a whole,” says Revolution CEO Sean Whiteley.