Since October, fresh meat products at Colruyt have been packaged in trays made with recycled plastic, collected through the PMD bags. This makes it the first supermarket chain to use foam trays made with recycled polystyrene from chemical recycling.
The recycled material originates from yoghurt pots and foam trays collected through the PMD bag system. After sorting, the polystyrene plastic goes to Indaver’s new Plastics2Chemicals facility in the Port of Antwerp for processing into styrene or basic raw material.
Thanks to Plastics2Chemicals’ innovative recycling technology, polystyrene packaging waste can be converted into a raw material of the same quality as new plastic. This makes the material food-safe, suitable for direct contact with meat and fully recyclable all over again – saving fossil fuels (oil) every time.
For shoppers, nothing has changed: the trays look the same, are just as safe for meat, can go back into the PMD bag after use and contain 10% recycled material, representing around 66 tonnes of recycled plastic per year.
This project is the result of a partnership between Fost Plus, Colruyt and Indaver, the first steps of which were taken in 2023. Thanks to Fost Plus, even packaging such as yoghurt pots and foam trays that’s harder to recycle is being properly collected and sorted. Indaver then handles both the sorting and recycling of the polystyrene, ensuring a stable supply of high-quality, locally sourced recycled material.
For Colruyt, a founding member of Fost Plus, this initiative is part of a broader tradition of packaging innovation: black trays were previously replaced with recyclable dark grey alternatives; today, a new step is being taken with foam trays containing recycled plastic from chemical recycling.
