Innovia trials recycled white BOPP film
Material science pioneer Innovia Films, in collaboration with PureCycle Technologies, has announced the successful production and trial evaluation of a white, cavitated biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film containing more than 40% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content.
The breakthrough provides global consumer brands with a high-performance, commercially viable pathway to integrate significant recycled content into some of the market’s most ubiquitous shelf-stable packaging formats.
Targeting a challenging flexible format
White, cavitated BOPP film is a staple material across grocery store aisles, prized for its opacity, light weight, paper-like feel, and excellent print surface. It functions as the primary material for demanding food-contact applications, including confectionery wrappers, ice cream novelty packaging, snack bags, and roll-fed labels.
Historically, incorporating meaningful quantities of post-consumer recycled material into this specific format has been a major technical hurdle. Because flexible food packaging requires pristine aesthetics, rigid mechanical performance, and strict moisture barriers, conventional mechanical recycling has often failed to deliver the necessary resin purity.
The trial successfully bypassed these limitations by utilising PureCycle’s PureFive Choice resin — a specially formulated, single-pellet solution engineered for ultra-thin film applications. The resin is manufactured via PureCycle’s patented dissolution recycling process, which filters out colour, odour, and contaminants from post-consumer polypropylene to yield a high-purity material that performs like virgin plastic.
“This film produced with PureFive resin represents a major milestone and shift in the sustainability of flexible packaging,” said Chris Freshwater, market manager at Innovia Films. “Our research and development specialists are always looking to improve the sustainability of our products. PureCycle’s dissolution recycling technology is a real gamechanger. Not only are we introducing post-consumer recycled content to our films, but we’re doing so with an energy-saving recycling technology.”
Seamless performance on the factory floor
For fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands, the primary concern with PCR-heavy packaging materials is line speed and structural integrity. If a sustainable film compromises sealing properties or breaks on high-speed wrapping machinery, the resulting downtime outweighs the environmental benefits.
To ensure manufacturing readiness, Innovia conducted comprehensive process evaluations across the entire cavitated BOPP production sequence. The trial confirmed that the PureFive Choice resin achieved comparable processing results to conventional virgin polypropylene. Final testing showed no drop in performance, with the PCR-heavy film maintaining the identical mechanical, barrier, and sealing properties required to safeguard food products and sustain fast packaging line throughput.
Pete Dias, PureCycle’s senior director of market, product, and application development, noted the massive retail implications of the trial: “The successful production of white, cavitated BOPP film is a major step forward for PureCycle and for the flexible packaging industry. This film can be found all over your grocery store, whether it’s in the candy aisle, an ice cream freezer or on snack shelves. By working with Innovia, we have demonstrated that our PureFive resin for film is up to that challenge and strengthens our conviction that PureCycle can serve as a foundational PCR supplier for the global flexible packaging market.”
A direct path to meeting brand pledges
The timing of this commercial expansion is vital for the food and beverage industry. As brand owners navigate tightening global packaging regulations and race to fulfil voluntary commitments — such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment — the demand for food-safe recycled PP has skyrocketed.
As one of the few commercially available, food-contact-compliant recycled PP resins on the market, the successful scaling of this film allows brand owners to clean up their supply chains without altering the shelf presence or preservation qualities of their core product lines.
