MOBY recycling system approved for food contact applications

The MOBY system, co-developed by Italian firms Gamma Meccanica and SB Plastics Machinery, has passed the test of decontamination of recycled PET (rPET) for reuse in food contact applications.

According to Gamma Meccanica, the MOBY system is approved by the Fraunhofer-Institut für Verfahrenstechnik und Verpackung, the European Research Institute designated by US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for testing of this type.

The procedure has provided, first, an artificial contamination of clean PET in bottle-flakes by pollutants (surrogates) prepared in such quantities so as to create the so-called "worse case".

Seven types of contaminants, including benzophenone, which is notoriously the most critical to be removed for its high point of the boll, were being used.

Subsequently, the contaminated PET was divided into two lots. A first batch was treated directly in the reactor using IR and vacuum MOBY to verify the direct recycling of bottle flake (bottle-to-bottle).

A second batch was processed in the system G-MOBY, which provides pelletizing in a Gamma Meccanica extruder and then a final decontamination in the reactor using IR and vacuum MOBY.

Then, both the bottle-flakes and the PET granules were subjected to a challenging migration test performed by the Fraunhofer-Institut to verify the residual level of pollutants.

In both cases, Gamma Meccanica said the cleaning-efficiency has exceeded the value of 99%, compatible with the parameters set by the USFDA and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for the reuse of rPET in contact with the food.

According to the statement, Gamma Meccanica and SB Plastics Machinery are the first Italian companies able to offer complete plants for the recycling of PET for food packaging applications.