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Mars Petcare Retort Pouches use Certified Circular PP

For its Sheba brand wet cat food pouch, Mars Petcare uses polypropylene produced through advanced recycling; the film is both food-safe and retortable.

One of the latest brands to embrace advanced recycling is Mars Petcare, which is launching a new pouch for its Sheba wet cat food that incorporates, on average, 30% recycled polypropylene from advanced recycling technology.
One of the latest brands to embrace advanced recycling is Mars Petcare, which is launching a new pouch for its Sheba wet cat food that incorporates, on average, 30% recycled polypropylene from advanced recycling technology.

While it may have been blue-sky thinking just over a decade ago, the recycling of multilayer films for food-safe applications through processes other than mechanical is now a reality and is being adopted at a rapid pace. One of the latest brands to embrace advanced recycling is Mars Petcare, a division of Mars, Inc., which is launching a new pouch for its Sheba wet cat food that incorporates, on average, 30% recycled polypropylene from advanced recycling technology. The first such structure for wet pet food, the Sheba pouch is not only food safe, but it can also withstand the retort process.

The initiative is the result of a collaboration with petrochemical firm SABIC and flexible film provider Huhtamaki and was undertaken as part of Mars’s commitment to reduce its use of virgin plastic by 25% and use 30% recycled content across its product portfolio by 2025.

Explains Graeme Smith, Global Sustainable Packaging Director, R&D, for Mars Petcare, “A significant proportion of our current product portfolio is packaged in flexible plastic packaging, which provides excellent barrier and protection for food safety, while still retaining conveyance to our pet parents in a very effective and efficient way. We do however recognize that these materials can have challenging effects on overall carbon footprint as they can be difficult to recycle. For this reason, we investigated several different options to lower the overall impact to the environment, and by adding food-safe recycled content to this solution, we believe we have managed to gain a great balance of environmental impact, while maintaining food safety.”

The Trucircle advanced recycling process involves taking mixed plastic waste and recycling it through pyrolysis into an oil that can be used as the feedstock to produce a range of plastics with the same characteristics and functionality as virgin plastic.The Trucircle advanced recycling process involves taking mixed plastic waste and recycling it through pyrolysis into an oil that can be used as the feedstock to produce a range of plastics with the same characteristics and functionality as virgin plastic.The Sheba pouch is converted by Huhtamaki and incorporates as part of its multilayer structure SABIC’s PP BCT18F impact polymer for retort pouches, part of the company’s Trucircle portfolio. The Trucircle advanced recycling process involves taking mixed plastic waste and recycling it through pyrolysis into an oil that can be used as the feedstock to produce a range of plastics with the same characteristics and functionality as virgin plastic.

New e-book on Flexible Packaging
In this e-book, you’ll learn key considerations for vertical and horizontal f/f/s and how to choose between premade bags and an f/f/s system. Plus, discover the pitfalls to avoid on bagging machinery projects.
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New e-book on Flexible Packaging
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INTRODUCING! The Latest Trends for All Industries at PACK EXPO Southeast