EFSA recently published Novel Technology Numbers (NTNs) for 24 developing technologies – including Nextek’s mechanical recycling and water-free cleaning processes, NEXTLOOPP and COtooCLEAN.
Managing director Professor Edward Kosior delves deeper into their potential to convert hard-to-recycle polyolefins into food-contact materials, and highlights the infrastructural developments required to upscale them.
The European Commission’s recent publication of the first list of notified novel technologies, each assigned a Novel Technology Number (NTN), marks a regulatory turning point and a shift toward recognizing innovation at scale.
Certainly, it represents a fundamental transition from potential to validated pathways for food-grade recycled plastics.
Understanding how this policy translates into actual impact is key, as it marks the start of the endorsement process for novel recycling technologies for non-PET recycled plastics intended for direct food-contact use, a critical step toward regulatory approval in Europe.
Given that the regulation was introduced late in 2022, this step of simply issuing official designation numbers for process developers, recycling installations and recycling operators is welcomed by all patient applicants as it will hopefully be a sign that progress is being made.
Fast responses by EFSA will help to boost the confidence of business investors so that new recycling processes can be scaled up with confidence, providing the capacity to reach the important green goals that the EU Commission has set for the EU community.
And the timing couldn’t be better. With ongoing geopolitical instability putting pressure on supply chains and driving volatility in virgin resin pricing, the strategic importance of recycled plastics has come sharply into focus. Europe currently imports around €15 billion worth of virgin plastic from overseas each year –– a dependency that increasingly looks both economically and environmentally outdated.
At the same time, vast volumes of post-consumer plastic are already available within Europe, much of it still underutilized. The question is becoming harder to ignore: why continue to create and import more virgin material when high-quality recycled polymers can be sourced and produced locally?
Breaking the link between imported virgin supply and European demand is increasingly seen not just as desirable, but necessary to improve resilience, support cost stability and advance circularity objectives.
Among the technologies included in this first wave of Novel Technology Notification (NTN) recognition are two developed by Nextek: NEXTLOOPP and COtooCLEAN. Their inclusion reflects the growing number of solutions now entering the EU’s formal regulatory pathway for recycled plastics intended for food contact.
NEXTLOOPP focuses on producing food-grade recycled polypropylene (rPP) from post-consumer material through mechanical recycling, targeting one of the least recycled high-volume polymers. COtooCLEAN, by contrast, applies supercritical CO2 to remove contaminants such as oils, odours and residual substances from post-consumer polyolefin films.
Taken together, these approaches illustrate how both mechanical and decontamination technologies are evolving to address long-standing barriers in polyolefin recycling. Their registration under the NTN framework signals a broader shift: solutions for food-grade recycling of polyolefins are moving beyond early-stage development and into structured regulatory assessment, with increasing potential for scale if successfully validated.
Infrastructure determines success
However, technology alone is not enough. There is a growing risk that, in the rush to scale these innovations, the fundamentals of a truly circular system are overlooked. Exporting plastic waste to be processed elsewhere, or transporting recyclate over long distances, may solve short-term capacity constraints –– but it comes at a cost.
The environmental consequences are clear: increased carbon emissions, inefficient logistics, and ultimately a dilution of the sustainability gains these technologies are designed to deliver. Just as importantly, it weakens local recycling ecosystems, diverting value away from regional infrastructure and slowing the development of resilient, domestic circular economies.
And it reinforces the very dependency Europe needs to move away from –– one where both raw materials and recycling capacity sit outside its borders. If Europe is to reduce its reliance on imported virgin plastics, it must also avoid outsourcing the value of its own waste streams.
Without sensible regulations to encourage the collection and reprocessing of EU waste within the EU, coupled with robust, localized collection systems, sorting and reprocessing, even the most advanced technologies will struggle to deliver their full environmental and economic potential within Europe. Importing recycled content does not address the local waste and litter issues and removes potential local recycling capacity, jobs and results in higher CO2 emissions via waste-to-energy treatment.
A call to action for brand owners
For brand owners, this is where strategy must evolve from obligation to leadership.
Meeting recycled content targets is no longer enough. The next phase requires a more deliberate, system-level approach:
- Authentic commitment to Design for Circularity for their products (not just recycling);
- Prioritizing investment in local collection and sorting infrastructure;
- Supporting the build-out of regional recycling capacity and using those resins regionally;
- Committing to the use of locally sourced recycled content wherever possible.
This is not just about reducing emissions –– it is about creating stable, transparent and resilient supply chains for recycled materials, while actively reducing dependence on imported virgin resin.
The shift from compliance-driven action needs to switch to active stewardship of the circular economy.
From recognition to realization
The introduction of the NTNs is undeniably a major step forward. It provides long-awaited regulatory clarity and signals that innovation in food-grade recycling is being taken seriously at a European level.
But it is not the finish line.
Real progress will be measured not by the number of technologies recognized, but by how effectively they are scaled up into functioning, localized systems that deliver tangible, high-quality plastic materials that brand owners can use in their products with all the additional important environmental outcomes.
The opportunity is now clear: to move from recognition to realization –– and in doing so, to break the cycle of imported virgin dependence and build a circular plastics economy that is not only technically possible, but practically and sustainably achieved.
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