Lambré Claude, Barat Baviera José Manuel, Bolognesi Claudia, Chesson Andrew, Cocconcelli Pier Sandro, Crebelli Riccardo, Gott David Michael, Grob Konrad, Mengelers Marcel, Mortensen Alicja, Rivière Gilles, Steffensen Inger-Lise, Tlustos Christina, Van Loveren Henk, Vernis Laurence, Zorn Holger, Dudler Vincent, Milana Maria Rosaria, Papaspyrides Constantine, Tavares Poças Mariade de Fátima, Lioupis Alexandros, Lampi Evgenia
EFSA J. 2023 Aug 2;21(8):e08149. doi: 10.2903/j.efsa.2023.8149. eCollection 2023 Aug.
The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the recycling process Plastrec (EU register number RECYC288), which uses the Polymetrix technology. The input material consists of hot washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes originating from collected post-consumer PET containers, e.g. bottles, including no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications. The flakes are extruded to pellets, crystallised and subsequently decontaminated in a solid-state polycondensation (SSP) reactor under high temperature and gas flow. Having examined the challenge tests provided, the Panel concluded that the fourth step, the decontamination in the SSP reactor, is critical in determining the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters to control the performance of this critical step are temperature, gas velocity and residence time. It was demonstrated that this recycling process is able to ensure a level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food below the conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process is not considered to be of safety concern, when used at up to 100% for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs, including drinking water, for long-term storage at room temperature or below, with or without hotfill. The final articles made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used in microwave or conventional ovens and such uses are not covered by this evaluation.
欧洲食品安全局食品接触材料、酶和加工助剂专家委员会（CEP）评估了采用Polymetrix技术的Plastrec回收工艺（欧盟注册号RECYC288）的安全性。输入材料为由收集的消费后聚对苯二甲酸乙二酯（PET）容器（如瓶子）制成的经过热洗和干燥的PET薄片，其中非食品消费用途的PET含量不超过5%。这些薄片被挤出成颗粒，进行结晶，随后在高温和气流下于固态缩聚（SSP）反应器中进行去污处理。在审查了所提供的挑战性试验后，专家委员会得出结论，第四步，即在SSP反应器中的去污处理，对于确定该工艺的去污效率至关重要。控制这一关键步骤性能的操作参数是温度、气体流速和停留时间。结果表明，这种回收工艺能够确保潜在未知污染物向食品中的迁移水平低于保守模拟的0.1μg/kg食品的迁移量。因此，专家委员会得出结论，当该工艺获得的回收PET以高达100%的比例用于制造与所有类型食品（包括饮用水）接触的材料和制品，用于在室温或更低温度下长期储存（有无热灌装）时，不被认为存在安全问题。由这种回收PET制成的最终制品不打算用于微波炉或传统烤箱，本评估不涵盖此类用途。
