Blown extrusion of agricultural multilayer films based on recycled materials

CIMPA will develop the first recycling valuation chain for multilayer films retaining up based on a synergetic approach combining innovative compositional-based sorting, mechanical and physical recycling, and upgrading solutions. The project aims to demonstrate that multilayer films can become circular in two large volume markets : food and agriculture.

Many partners are involved to achieve this objective, and among them, the Barbier Group, who its strong expertise in mechanical recycling to agricultural products.

The mechanical recycling consists to sorting, washing, drying and granulating a soiled film which was used in real conditions and giving it a new life. The challenge is to obtain high quality recycled raw material with improved properties, in sufficient quantity to match the ambitious incorporation objectives of the Barbier Group.

The Barbier Group has demonstrated its interest in mechanical recycling by developing production units dedicated to this activity. The Group has two recycling plants : SOREP (created in the early 1980s where are recycled post-consumer films from industrial and household origin as well as our production scraps) and CHAVANON 5 (created in 2015 for the recycling of agricultural film collected after use). With these two plants, the Barbier group can yearly value about 23 000 t of post-consumer wastes and produce about 16 000 t of post-consumer recycled material. Its recycled raw material production is fully reintroduced in his blown film extrusion process. In 2023, the Barbier group incorporated an average of 27% of recycled raw materials.

The involvement of the company on the market of recycled agricultural products is also well known. The Barbier Group has been a member of APE (Agriculture Plastic and Environment) for over 15 years. This association is funding and organizing collection of used agricultural films in France through ADIVALOR organisation.

The role played by the Barbier Group in the CIMPA project is to demonstrate the feasibility of reincorporating of recycled material issued from multilayer agricultural film into agriculture application. The work carried out by CIMPA partners on mechanical recycling aims to select the most suitable formulation to the intended applications, and to improve both recycling process and quality of these recycled materials (post-consumer).

In April 2024, the Barbier Group launched an industrial blown-extrusion production of recycled raw materials from CIMPA’s project. These trials have allowed obtaining multilayer films incorporating 30% of PE/PA based recycled raw material. These films are currently being characterized to determine their mechanical properties. An ageing study is also underway to observe variations in these properties over time. The goal is to demonstrate that this film with incorporating 30% of PE/PA recycled material can be used in agricultural applications as a virgin film.