imprint EDITORIAL PUBLISHER Alexander Büchler, Managing Director HEAD OFFICE heidelberg business media GmbH Hubweg 15 74939 Zuzenhausen, Germany phone: +49 6221-65108-0 [email protected] EDITORIAL Kay Barton Heike Fischer Gabriele Kosmehl Michael Maruschke Ruari McCallion Miriam Trotter Anthony Withers Editorial & WikiPETia. info [email protected] MEDIA CONSULTANTS Martina Hirschmann [email protected] Johann Lange-Brock [email protected] phone: +49 6221-65108-0 LAYOUT AND PREPRESS EXPRIM Werbeagentur Matthias Gaumann www.exprim.de READER SERVICES [email protected] PRINT Chroma Druck Eine Unternehmung der Limberg-Druck GmbH Danziger Platz 6 67059 Ludwigshafen, Germany WWW www.hbmedia.net | www.petpla.net PETplanet Insider ISSN 1438-9459 is published 10 times a year. This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (1-year subscription 149 EUR, 2-year subscription 289 EUR, Young professionals’ subscription 99 EUR. Magazines will be dispatched to you by airmail). Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Note: The fact that product names may not be identified as trademarks is not an indication that such names are not registered trademarks. 3 PETplanet Insider Vol. 26 No. 12/25 www.petpla.net A recent study on NIAS (Non-Intentionally Added Substances) in rPET containers has been published. It suggests a correlation between the rPET content and the NIAS content. We asked Casper van den Dungen of PETCORE Europe about the background. For him, the circularity of PET packaging has evolved from a buzzword to an industrial imperative, requiring precision, methodology, and long-term planning, emphasising that PET products - whether bottles, trays, or other packaging - must be designed for recyclability from the outset. Only then does collecting and processing them for the next cycle make true sense. A central challenge in the rPET lifecycle is managing NIAS, whose presence, even at trace levels, can affect food safety. Van den Dungen highlightes that critical steps such as collection and washing reduce non-PET content to parts-per-million levels, and thereby controlling NIAS risk to parts-per-billion levels. Validation should follow the PING (Packaging INtelligent Guidelines), with the revised 2019 version expected in early 2026. Brand owners face the delicate balance between increasing rPET content and ensuring material composition safety. Van den Dungen stresses that a holistic view of the cycle - from production through collection, cleaning, and reprocessing - is essential to identify potential errors early and safeguard food safety. A forward-looking development is PETCORE’s creation of a central NIAS database. This system aims to capture data on collection methods, origin, rPET content, and more. At the same time, it must balance confidentiality and transparency, protecting proprietary data while delivering meaningful insights for the industry. Read the full interview with charts and references starting on page 21. Yours, Alexander Büchler Dear readers,
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