Recycled polystyrene could be on the market as food contact materials and articles immediately after industry body Styrenics Circular Solution submitted a notification of a "novel technology" under EU regulation 2022/1616, SCS said.

"Whilst the notification is subject to a verification by the competent authority, the submission means that rPS produced with the notified installations and technology may be placed as FCM on the market immediately," SCS said.

The technology makes use of a so-called ABA structure, i.e. sandwiching a middle layer of rigid recycled polystyrene material in between two layers of virgin polystyrene, to ensure the safe use of R-PS as food contact material behind a functional barrier.

A consortium organised by SCS of European manufacturers, converters and recyclers, is responsible for leading the development of such a technology and demonstrated the safety of recycled polystyrene used behind a functional barrier in compliance to EU regulations relating to food contact compliance.

There has been talk that some polystyrene producers have started promoting the material, with a distributor anticipating some volumes would be made available in 2024.

Currently in the European market within the realm of food-grade recycled polymers, only R-PET materials are commonly traded, as all other recycled polymer types may be required to go through the route of "novel technology" in order to be recognised as food safe, according to EU regulation 2022/1616 which came into force October 2022.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed food grade R-PET pellets at Eur1,400/mt ($1,530/mt) FD Northwest Europe June 19.