HG4PPflex
How can smart sorting and advanced recycling help close the loop for flexible polypropylene (PP) packaging?
2026-2028
Background & Relevance
How can smart sorting and advanced recycling help close the loop for flexible polypropylene (PP) packaging? The HG4PPflex project brings together industry and research partners to investigate the technical, economic and environmental potential of a circular value chain for food-grade flexible PP packaging in Belgium.
From smart sorting to recycled PP
With the recycled-content requirements of the PPWR coming into force from 2030, demand for high-quality recycled PP will increase significantly, especially for food-contact applications. Smart sorting through digital watermarking, combined with advanced recycling such as chemical washing and dissolution, could enable the recovery of higher-quality PP from flexible packaging waste.
HG4PPflex is a COOCK+ project funded by VLAIO and runs from September 2026 until August 2028. It is carried out by Pack4Food, Ghent University (LCPE), CAPTURE and Fost Plus, the Belgian packaging PRO. The project was initiated by Catalisti and Flanders' FOOD, in collaboration with AIM, the European Brands Association.
From smart sorting to food-grade recycled PP
Current optical sorting systems cannot distinguish food-contact from non-food packaging, so valuable food-contact PP often ends up in mixed streams. Digital watermarks, invisible codes printed on the packaging that sorting lines can read, make it possible to separate these fractions. HG4PPflex builds on the industrial trials of the HolyGrail 2030 initiative to investigate how this sorting approach can be implemented in Belgium. It then assesses advanced physical recycling routes such as delamination, deinking, dissolution and decontamination.
Assessing the complete value chain
The project combines technical, economic and environmental performance and aims to:
- Demonstrate watermark-based sorting at multi-ton scale, targeting >95% purity for food-contact PP;
- Test at least eight recycling processes at laboratory scale and demonstrate the most promising routes at >100 kg scale;
- Assess recyclate quality against EFSA food-contact requirements;
- Quantify recycling yields and recycled-content potential at Belgian national scale;
- Assess the potential for >40% carbon-footprint reduction and compare economic performance.
Ultimately, HG4PPflex will map the most promising value-chain configurations for food-grade flexible PP packaging in Flanders and Belgium.
Join the HG4PPflex User Committee
Are you active in flexible PP packaging, food packaging, sorting, recycling or related technologies? Would you like to follow the development of new routes towards food-grade recycled PP and contribute your industrial perspective?
Interested in joining the HG4PPflex User Committee or learning more about the project? Contact us: info@pack4food.be