From PMD bag tot store shelf

Supermarket chain Colruyt has launched the first meat trays made with recycled polystyrene derived from chemical recycling. The plastic packaging material made from yoghurt pots and foam trays collected from PMD bags is processed at Indaver’s new Plastics2Chemicals facility in Antwerp. Colruyt is using a total of around 66 tonnes per year of this recycled polystyrene in the dark grey foam trays used for its fresh meat products. The new packaging has been on store shelves since October 2025. Ludo Vanderelst, Responsible Buyer at Colruyt Group: ‘In 2023, Colruyt was the first chain to stop using black foam trays, so that empty packaging placed in the PMD bags could be correctly sorted and therefore recycled. Today, we’re the first to reuse recycled material from foam trays and yoghurt pots in our packaging. This means we need fewer and fewer new raw materials for our packaging, which reduces our environmental impact.’

Foam trays are made from XPS, or extruded polystyrene. This is the same plastic family as, for example, yoghurt pots made from PS or polystyrene. Although this type of packaging has been sorted and recycled from PMD bags for some time, recycled material from mechanical recycling* cannot be used to make new food packaging if it comes into direct contact with food. The recycling technology at Indaver’s new Plastics2Chemicals plant in the Port of Antwerp changes this. Since October, Colruyt’s dark grey foam trays contain 10% recycled material, representing 66 tonnes of recycled XPS annually. ‘The trays look exactly the same, and are just as safe for your meat. In addition, they can be perfectly recycled all over again via the PMD bag.’

Food-safe and environmentally friendly

Inge Baertsoen, communications manager at Indaver: ‘With Plastics2Chemicals, we’re taking the next step in plastic recycling. We use advanced chemical recycling to convert polystyrene packaging into recycled styrene. This is the raw material for making new packaging and has the same properties as virgin material, meaning that the styrene is safe to use in food packaging. The factory has only really been running since the summer, which makes this collaboration extra special.’
 

Plastics2Chemicals has a total capacity of 26,000 tonnes. In 2025 the factory processed at industrial scale polystyrene and extruded polystyrene sorted from the PMD bag. PS packaging waste is converted into base chemicals through thermal depolymerisation (heat) and distillation (purification). The final product has a very high purity, similar to virgin material, and is therefore a high-quality alternative to fossil-fuel based raw materials. In 2026, Plastics2Chemicals will also start recycling packaging film from PMD bags, such as snack packaging and outer packaging. A total of 75 million euros has been invested in the new facility.

Sorting, recycling and producing in our own country

Europe is requiring at least 10% of packaging – depending on the plastic type – to be recycled material by 2030**. This isn’t always straightforward for food packaging, as only recycled PET from mechanical recycling is permitted for packaging food or drinks. Colruyt and Plastics2Chemicals are closing the recycling gap by supplying virgin-quality packaging materials from post-consumer plastic waste.

Mik Van Gaever, COO at Fost Plus: ‘Recycling domestically and thus producing secondary raw materials makes us less dependent on new materials imported, often from outside Europe. We are reducing the ecological footprint of packaging and are creating sustainable, long-term employment in our own country. Indaver is one of six partners that sorts the contents of PMD bags. The fact that they are now also recycling this difficult material here proves that systems thinking works.’

In figures

• Annual quantity of dark grey foam trays used on Colruyt shelves: 659 tonnes
• Amount of recycled material from chemical recycling in Colruyt foam trays: 10% or 66 tonnes
  • This is based on the total amount of XPS (mass balance), not per individual tray.

Closing the foam tray chain in eight steps

1. PMD bags are collected from homes and businesses and taken to six sorting centres in Belgium, including the Indaver sorting centre.
2. PMD is sorted into 16 fractions, including polystyrene.
3. The sorted bales are sent to specialist recycling companies; polystyrene bales primarily arrive at Plastics2Chemicals.
4. In the pretreatment phase, the polystyrene is turned into agglomerates.
5. Styrene monomers are formed using advanced technology.
6. Chemical partners Trinseo and INEOS Styrolution polymerise the recycled styrene monomers into new polystyrene.
7. Happy Group and Silverplastics purchase the recycled polystyrene, mix it with new polystyrene, and produce foam trays for Colruyt.
8. These trays are returned to store shelves and, after use, are put into PMD bags so the entire process can start again.

Read the 2023 announcement about how Colruyt Group, by replacing ‘carbon black’ dye from its foam trays, changed the entire market. This means that foam trays can now be sorted from the PMD bags and recycled in the new Plastics2Chemicals plant thanks to the contract that Fost Plus signed with Indaver.

* Colruyt’s light brown foam trays also contain recycled material from mechanical recycling, because of which a thin barrier layer needs to be placed between packaging and product. Thanks to Plastics2Chemicals’ technology, this is not necessary.

** Share of recycled material by 2030:

• 30% for contact-sensitive packaging in PET (except for beverages)
• 10% for contact-sensitive packaging in non-PET such as PS (except for beverages)
• 30% for single-use plastic drinks bottles

Source

Indaver, press release, 2026-01-14.

Supplier

Colruyt
Indaver

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