---
title: Testing Food-Grade PCR Polypropylene in Packaging | ICPG
description: Discover the results of ICPG's latest trial running 30% and 50% food-grade PCR polypropylene on existing extrusion and thermoforming packaging lines.
---

[Industry Insights](https://blog.icpg.co)

# [Testing Food-Grade PCR Polypropylene in Packaging | ICPG](https://blog.icpg.co/crazy-about-packaging-s3e3-putting-recycled-polypropylene-to-the-test)

 Written by [Natalie MacVarish](https://blog.icpg.co/author/natalie-macvarish) | Nov 10, 2026, 8:59:59 AM

Welcome back to Crazy About Packaging!

There's a real difference between committing to post consumer recycled content and getting PCR polypropylene material to actually run on your lines and perform in a finished package. Most of the industry conversation still lives on the commitment side, and the questions your extrusion and thermoforming teams care about tend to stay open until somebody puts the material on a line and sees what it does.

ICPG set out to answer those questions. Working with a [polypropylene](https://icpg.co/materials-and-applications/polypropylene-pp/) resin supplier and a thermoforming partner, we ran food grade recycled polypropylene through a full trial, from pellet through [extrusion](https://icpg.co/capabilities/extrusion-capabilities/) to formed part, to see what incorporating PCR does to the process window and to the quality of the finished container. Mike spearheaded the project, and in this episode he walks through what we were trying to prove, what the data showed and where it points next.

## Sneak Peek for Season 4, Episode 3

You can listen to the full episode on [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/3pA2sXoOQCPeiTXYauGMNo), [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crazy-about-packaging-conversations-with-the-c-a-p-pack/id1670403607) or on the [ICPG website](https://icpg.co/podcast/).

Last season we spent a lot of time on [what actually drives packaging cost](https://blog.icpg.co/crazy-about-packaging-s3e11-real-cost-of-packaging) and on [where recyclable plastics really go](https://blog.icpg.co/recyclable-plastics-what-really-happens-next). This time we're going a level deeper into the material itself: what we tested, how it ran, where it behaved differently than virgin resin and what that means if you're the one who has to hit a recycled content target in a few years.

## Why PCR Polypropylene Went From Nice to Have to Need to Have

Post industrial recycled content is not new to this industry. Extruders and thermoformers have been taking web scrap, regrinding it and running it back into [thermoformed](https://icpg.co/capabilities/thermoforming/) structures for decades, with [polystyrene](https://icpg.co/materials-and-applications/polystyrene-ps/), [PET](https://icpg.co/materials-and-applications/polyethylene-terephthalate/) and polypropylene alike. What's changed is the arrival of food grade post consumer material and a regulatory deadline attached to it.

The driver is Article 7 of the EU's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). For contact sensitive packaging made from plastics other than PET, which is where most polypropylene [food packaging](https://icpg.co/markets/) sits, the requirement is 10% recycled content by 2030 and 25% by 2040, averaged per manufacturing plant per year. PET carries higher targets because the PET recycling stream is further along, and the bottle grade collection system has had a long head start on everything else.

If you supply brands that operate in the EU, that timeline is already inside your qualification window. And as Mike pointed out, almost everything that happens in EU packaging finds its way back to North America eventually, which means the work is worth doing on this side of the Atlantic too, ideally before anyone is forced into it.

## What the Trial Was Actually Testing

The question was deliberately narrow. This wasn't a customer project and it wasn't a commercial launch. It was purely a technical feasibility study; a noncommercial test that wasn't run for a particular customer.

What we wanted to know was whether food grade PCR polypropylene could run on our existing extrusion platform, under the conditions we'd normally run, without additional equipment, cost or time. It's the same approach we take when we're qualifying [XPP](https://icpg.co/materials-and-applications/xpp/) on a [form fill seal](https://icpg.co/materials-and-applications/form-fill-seal/) line. Does it run as-is, and if it doesn't, exactly what's different?

Part of what made the trial possible now is that the right resin finally exists. For years the food grade PCR polypropylene on the market was tailored for injection molding, with melt flow characteristics that don't suit extrusion or thermoforming. That's changed, and we tested two formulations:

- **30% PCR loading at a 2 melt flow.** Close to ideal from a processing standpoint, and short of the 2040 target on recycled content.
- **50% PCR loading at a 4 melt flow.** Comfortably past the 2040 target on content, with a melt flow that's less desirable but still useful.

Both ran against a virgin polypropylene control.

## Extruding PCR Polypropylene Ran Without Process Changes

The extrusion run is the cleanest result of the trial. We established a process on the virgin control material, switched to the 30% and then the 50% PCR formulations and changed nothing. The only adjustments made were the normal ones you'd make moving from a thicker gauge to a thinner one, which came down to line speed.

That matters more than it might sound. Operators and extrusion supervisors reported the material came into process quickly, which is not what you'd expect going in. If you're a brand considering whether your supplier can run recycled content at volume, the useful finding here is that it didn't take special handling, special conditions or a learning curve on the extruder.

## The Sheet Looks Different, and That's Workable

The main visual difference between virgin resin and PCR sheet is that the PCR sheet carried a yellowish tint and wasn't water clear, which is typical of post consumer material and comes down to what's in the feedstock. A PCR stream is a mix of whites, blacks, greens, browns and clears, so a sheet with any clarity at all is a reflection of how far resin technology has come.

Still, tint is a real constraint in food packaging, where [clarity often carries the shelf appeal](https://blog.icpg.co/clarity-in-packaging-pet-vs-pp-is-no-longer-a-trade-off). As Mike put it, "My takeaway was that this is best suited to an opaque colored, maybe even branded colored material."

There's a structural answer too. The trial ran the material neat, on purpose, so that nothing else could mask or explain the results. In production you have other options, including capping the structure with virgin layers and carrying the PCR in the center, or working with clarifiers and pigments. ICPG's extrusion equipment is built for exactly that kind of layered structure, and those are the levers for a later phase rather than a reason to stop now.

## Thermoforming Took More Heat, Not More Time

Trial material was produced for a 16 ounce drink cup, along with material for a future trial on a number 3 meat tray, and the forming work was done at a thermoforming partner's facility. Again the sequence started with the virgin control to establish a stable process, then moved to the PCR formulations.

The cups formed well, and quickly. The one consistent difference was heat. Moving from the control to the 30% PCR formulation required an increase of 46 degrees Celsius on every heating zone, about 12% of the heating range. The 50% PCR formulation needed less, roughly 34 degrees Celsius, or a 9% increase.

Cycle speed held. The line ran at 28 cycles per minute on the virgin control and stayed at 28 cycles per minute across both PCR formulations, with the same throughput on extrusion and on thermoforming for every variable tested. For anyone who has watched a material change quietly eat into line efficiency, that's the number worth circling, because [throughput tends to drive cost](https://blog.icpg.co/cost-effective-packaging-looking-beyond-resin-price) more than resin price does.

## Wall Thickness Held Across Every Formulation

Consistency was the other thing we set out to measure, and it's the part that matters most if you're thinking about running this at scale.

We set criteria on wall thickness and compared the profile of the control cups against the profile of the PCR cups. The profiles were identical. The cups were thin where the control was thin and thick where the control was thick, with the same continuity of material thickness through the part in all three grades. Across many measurements, the control, the 30% and the 50% materials all landed within three standard deviations of each other at every measurement point.

There were no shrink differences and no changes in physical properties in this phase. Worth saying plainly: that's phase one, on 16 ounce cups, and further phases are still to come.

One detail says as much as the data does. The company that ran the thermoforming line had an innovation day the following week, and they chose to run the PCR material for it because it had been so reliable and consistent.

## What This Opens Up Next

The honest summary of the trial is that the feasibility is there, which clears the way for the longer and more specific work. "The results that we've documented should give brands and converters confidence that they can do the longer term due diligence on this material and find out where it fits in their portfolio," Mike explained.

For ICPG, the obvious next question is how PCR content fits into an XPP structure, so that the material brands are already evaluating as a [polystyrene alternative](https://blog.icpg.co/polystyrene-alternatives-what-to-evaluate) can also carry recycled content and meet PPWR requirements in the EU while staying ahead of the curve in North America.

The broader point Jonathan made is worth sitting with, because the opportunity isn't limited to one material or one supplier. "Polypropylene remains one of the biggest opportunities for recycled material. It can be recycled with barrier or color or what have you."

MRFs are getting better at capturing the smaller containers where a lot of polypropylene lives, and the resin supply is expanding with new capacity coming online over the next several years. The constraint has been that almost nobody has done the work of proving out the processing side, which left converters and brands in a chicken and egg standoff about who moves first. This trial is one step out of it.

## Evaluating Recycled Content for Your Food Packaging?

If you're working toward a recycled content target or trying to understand what PCR would do to your existing lines, [talk with the ICPG team](https://icpg.co/about-us/contact-us/) about what you're trying to solve and where your packaging needs to go next.

Thanks for listening, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you don't miss the rest of Season 4. We'll be back with more on this project as the next phases wrap up.

## Frequently Asked Questions About Recycled Polypropylene in Food Packaging

### What is PCR polypropylene?

PCR polypropylene is post consumer recycled polypropylene, meaning material that was used by a consumer, collected, sorted and reprocessed into resin. It's different from post industrial recycled content, which is manufacturing scrap captured and reused inside the plant.

### What does the PPWR require for recycled content in food packaging?

Article 7 of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation sets recycled content minimums by category. Contact sensitive packaging made from plastics other than PET, which includes most polypropylene food packaging, must contain 10% recycled content by 2030 and 25% by 2040, averaged per manufacturing plant per year.

### Can recycled polypropylene run on existing extrusion lines?

In this trial it did. The 30% and 50% PCR formulations ran on the same extrusion platform as the virgin control with no process changes beyond the normal speed adjustments for gauge. Results will vary by resin grade and by line, which is why material qualification still matters.

### Does PCR content change thermoforming cycle times?

It didn't here. The line held 28 cycles per minute on the control and on both PCR formulations. The PCR material did require more heat, up to 46 degrees Celsius more per heating zone, so the practical question for a thermoformer is whether the equipment has headroom in its heating range.

### How does the physical performance of PCR polypropylene compare to virgin resin?

In our feasibility trial, the physical properties were identical. Wall thickness profiles remained completely consistent across the 30% and 50% PCR formulations compared to the virgin control. There were no differences in shrinkage, and the structural integrity of the 16-ounce cups held up perfectly, meaning throughput and part quality do not have to be sacrificed to meet recycled content targets.

### Why does recycled polypropylene have a yellow tint?

PCR feedstock is a mix of colors and materials, and that shows up as a tint in the finished sheet. It's typical of post consumer content and tends to make PCR a better fit for opaque or colored packaging, or for structures where the recycled content is carried in a center layer.

### How much PCR can food packaging contain today?

That depends on the application and the resin grade. This trial tested 30% and 50% loadings in a thermoformed cup and found both processable, which suggests the technical ceiling is higher than current regulatory minimums. Commercial use still requires food grade certified PCR and application-specific qualification.

[View full post](https://blog.icpg.co/crazy-about-packaging-s3e3-putting-recycled-polypropylene-to-the-test)

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