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Safety assessment of the process brtCOMBIPET used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

Summary

This study examines a recycling process called brtCOMBIPET that converts used PET plastic bottles into new food-safe plastic materials. The process uses heating, extrusion, and special chemical treatments to remove contaminants from recycled plastic. Testing shows the process is very effective at removing harmful chemicals, making recycled plastic safe to use for food and drink containers, which helps reduce plastic waste.

Background

Recycled plastic materials and articles must be produced through authorized recycling processes before market approval. The brtCOMBIPET process (EU register number RECYC338) is intended to recycle post-consumer PET containers into food contact materials through mechanical recycling with decontamination steps.

Objective

To assess the safety of the brtCOMBIPET recycling process for converting post-consumer PET flakes into recycled PET pellets suitable for food contact applications, evaluating decontamination efficiency and chemical safety.

Results

Combined decontamination efficiency ranged from >99.3% to >99.6% across surrogates. Residual concentrations in recycled PET were calculated to ensure migration levels remain below conservatively modeled thresholds of 0.0481 or 0.0962 μg/kg food, depending on contaminant molar mass.

Conclusion

The brtCOMBIPET process is safe for use at up to 100% recycled PET in food contact materials when operated under specified conditions with proper control of critical parameters (temperature, pressure, residence time, gas flow rate). The recycled PET is approved for contact with all foodstuffs including drinking water for long-term storage at room temperature or below.
  • Published in:EFSA Journal,
  • Study Type:Safety Assessment,
  • Source: 10.2903/j.efsa.2025.9766, 41394337
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