Recycling design for plastic food packaging

The same lid for every pot

Plastic is a bundle of materials with many economic and ecological advantages and is often used for food packaging. To increase the recycling rates optimal sorting and recycling processes are required. In the food industry heat seal coatings often play an important role for packaging which come with heat sealable lid structures. Those are often composed of different plastics, increasing the difficulty of the recycling process.

Since it is difficult or not even possible at all to mechanically recycle composite materials consisting of multi-layer films heat seal coatings should be considered when designing a sustainable food packaging. Simply designed mono material packaging is the key to avoid incineration of hard to recycle packaging.

Lids for every pot

Enabe sorting of plastic material coated with DEGACRYL® HS

Evonik has developed a solution that includes using heat seal binders designed with recyclability in mind. DEGACRYL® HS binders can achieve high heat seal strengths already at low coating weight due to their unique hybrid methacrylic copolymers composition. With universal heat seal binders using DEGACRYL® HS binders, it is possible to design a mono PET packaging of the highest quality. Due to the direct adhesion properties on PET as well as great sealability against PET it is possible to substitute the widely used multilayer composites by mono material packaging. The transparent heat seal binder even enables the design of transparent PET lidding, widely used for fresh food packaging.

Our Partners

For more than 50 years Evonik’s DEGACRYL® HS is known as the leading raw material for heat seal coatings in the food packaging industry. Our DEGACRYL® HS team works with both formulators and converters of flexible packaging around the globe and thereby enable well-known brand owner like e.g., Nestlé or Danone to safely package their food products.


Contact our circular economy experts!