Safety assessment of the process Reliance Industries, based on the ProTec technology, used to recycle post‐consumer PET into food contact materials

Abstract The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the recycling process Reliance Industries (EU register number RECYC315), which uses the ProTec technology. The input material consists of washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes, mainly originating from collected post‐consumer PET containers, e.g. bottles, with no more than 5% PET from non‐food consumer applications. The flakes are extruded into pellets (step 1), crystallised (step 2) and treated in a solid‐state polycondensation (SSP) reactor (step 3). Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the extrusion and the decontamination in the ■■■■■ SSP reactor (steps 1 and 3) are critical in determining the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters to control the performance of these critical steps are temperature, pressure and residence time. It was demonstrated that this recycling process is able to ensure that the level of migration of potential unknown contaminants into food is below the conservatively modelled migration of 0.1 μg/kg food. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process is not considered to be of safety concern, when used at up to 100% for the manufacture of materials and articles for contact with all types of foodstuffs, including drinking water, for long‐term storage at room temperature or below, with or without hotfill. The final articles made of this recycled PET are not intended to be used in microwave and conventional ovens and such uses are not covered by this evaluation.