Safety assessment of the process Silver Plastics, based on the Reifenhäuser technology, used to recycle post-consumer PET into food contact materials

The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the recycling process Silver Plastics (EU register number RECYC299), which uses the Reifenhäuser technology. The input material consists of hot caustic washed and dried poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) flakes mainly originating from collected post-consumer PET containers, including no more than 5% PET from non-food consumer applications. The flakes are extruded under vacuum into sheets. Having examined the challenge test provided, the Panel concluded that the decontamination in the extruder under vacuum degassing (step 2), for which a challenge test was provided, is critical in determining the decontamination efficiency of the process. The operating parameters to control the performance are temperature, pressure and throughput. The Panel concluded that this recycling process is able to ensure a level of exposure to potential unknown contaminants from food below 0.0025 μg/kg bw per day, when such recycled PET is used from 15% to 100% in mixtures with virgin PET, depending on the specific intended application. Therefore, the Panel concluded that the recycled PET obtained from this process is not considered to be of safety concern when used from 15% to 100% in mixtures with virgin PET for the manufacture of materials and articles depending on the specific intended application. 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.