Screening study on recyclability evaluation of coated papers for food packaging

The recyclability of paper products has been defined as the capacity of a fibrous paper material or product to be processed effectively from a technological and economic point of view in order to recover the cellulose fibres and to produce new paper and board, employing the technologies predominantly used in today’s paper industry. In the context of European targets achieving full recyclability of packaging paper, the harmonized CEPI guidelines (version February 2026) are followed to assess and quantify the recyclability of coated papers, based on repulping, screening of recycled fiber fractions (accept versus reject fraction) and visual quality analysis. Therefore, a broad range of (semi-)industrially available coated papers with proven barrier properties for food packaging applications has been subjected to recyclability testing, including different types of lamination, extrusion and dispersion coatings. The compositions include, e.g., acrylic dispersion coatings, acrylate-ethylene and vinyl copolymer dispersion coatings, ethylene co-polymer and wax dispersion coatings, vegetable wax dispersion coatings, biopolymer cellulose dispersion coatings, polyethylene lamination and dispersion coatings, PVOH dispersion coatings, EVOH extrusion coatings, vacuum metallized coatings. Results indicate that if the fiber yield is low, the total recyclability score is definitely below threshold. If the fiber yield is high, the total recyclability score is significantly decreased by a low score for visual impurities in the recycled handsheets. Based on the results, decision needs to be made whether high fiber yield or high fiber quality is most desirable for application of the recycled paper fibers. The dispersion coated papers with fossil-based or bio-based polymers provide acceptable recyclability scores to be accepted in the paper recycling stream. The standardized recyclability scores are supplemented by further quantification of size morphology for the contaminant inclusions.