Guidelines on submission of a dossier for safety evaluation by the EFSA of a recycling process to produce recycled plastics intended to be used for manufacture of materials and articles in contact with food - Opinion of the Scientific Panel on food additives, flavourings, processing aids and materials in contact with food (AFC)

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According to the Regulation (EC) No 282/2008 on recycled plastic materials and articles intended to come into contact with foods (European Commission, 2008), hereafter referred to as “the Regulation”, recycled plastics used to manufacture materials and articles intended for food contact shall be obtained only from processes authorised by the Commission following a safety assessment performed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The Regulation also states that the recycling process shall be managed by a quality assurance system (QAS) that has to meet the requirements laid down in the Annex of Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 (European Commission, 2006).

The purpose of these guidelines is to give guidance to applicants wishing to obtain authorization for production processes of recycled plastics according to the “Regulation”. It gives guidance on the administrative and technical data required and on the format of applications for the evaluation by the EFSA.

These guidelines apply to processes using mechanical recycling, whereby the collected plastics are ground into small pieces and decontaminated before being processed to new food contact materials. Chemical recycling processes, whereby the plastic is completely depolymerised into monomers and starting substances which are then reused in a polymerisation reaction are not in the scope of the Regulation and are not covered by these guidelines. Processes where the mechanical recycling is the main part of the whole process are in the scope of these guidelines provided that the plastic is not subsequently depolymerised.
In addition, these guidelines do not apply to the following materials which are not in the scope of the Regulation:

1. recycled plastics used behind a plastic functional barrier, as specified in Directive 2002/72/EC , (European Commission, 2002)
2. offcuts and scraps from the production of plastic food contact materials that have not yet been in contact with food and which are recycled within the manufacturing site or at another site where an audited quality assurance system is in place, that meets the requirements laid down in the Annex of Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 (European Commission, 2006).