Ultramid^® Ccycled^™

Sustainable solutions with Ultramid^® Ccycled^™

High quality polyamides supporting the use of recycled feedstock from plastic waste

With the new Ultramid Ccycled products, BASF helps you in the development of your sustainable product offerings

With its ChemCycling^TM project, BASF is breaking new ground in the recycling of plastic waste. Chemical recycling primarily involves the use of plastic waste that has so far been used for energy recovery or landfilled, such as mixed plastic waste or end-of-life tires. In a thermochemical process called pyrolysis, BASF’s partners obtain recycled feedstock from these plastics. The secondary feedstock is then fed into the BASF Verbund. Using a mass balance approach, these chemicals can be allocated to specific products manufactured in the Verbund, such as our Ultramid Ccycled products. Fossil raw materials are thus replaced and saved.

	Ultramid Ccycled postC 1	Ultramid Ccycled postC 2	Ultramid Ccycled preC 3
Raw material source	Household mixed plastic waste (Post Consumer)	Scrap tires (Post Consumer)	Polyamide production waste (Post Industrial)
Method	Pyrolysis	Pyrolysis	Cracking process
Possible claims for customer applications*	Contributes to the Circular economy Closes the packaging loop For this product less fossil primary raw materials are used CO₂ savings compared to energy recovery	For this product less fossil primary raw materials are used Upcycling in a circular economy CO₂ savings compared to energy recovery	For this product less fossil primary raw materials are used CO₂ savings compared to energy recovery
Target industry	Packaging	Textiles, carpets, automotive	Filaments, Construction
Certified by independent Certifiers	x	x	x

*Claims subject to legal review by user.

Your benefits

Chemical recycling currently makes use of hard-to-recycle mixed plastic waste materials such as end-of-life car tires or mixed household waste.
The recycled feedstock is fed in at the beginning of the production network as a drop-in solution.
You do not need to change/adapt your production equipment and processes. Ccycled products are certified mass balanced products.
Virgin quality: suitable for food contact packaging with high hygiene requirements.
Ccycled products can be used in the same applications as the recycled plastic waste (e.g. packaging).

^{Customer stories}

Food waste is responsible for approximately 8% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Functional plastic packaging is part of the solution for preventing this waste and eliminating it completely would result in even higher levels of food waste. This is why a more comprehensive approach is required. This is why a more comprehensive approach is required.

Wait. Plastic – is climate positive?

How can using something plastic actually do something good for the environment? With society’s call for reducing plastic waste, we need to keep in mind that this initiative might cause an even greater environmental problem: food waste. How can we balance creating plastic packaging that is as eco-friendly as possible, and at the same time keep produce fresh for longer?

StePac has done just that by developing modiﬁed atmosphere (MA) packaging coupled with modiﬁed humidity (MH) technology to enable shelf life extension of fresh produce. There is no doubt that we see excessive use of plastic in the industry. At the same time, we need to be sensible and not abandon it altogether, rather use it when we really need to, in preventing food waste.

StePac has been accredited by RedCert2 to incorporate chemically recycled Polyamide 6 (Ultramid^® Ccycled^™) supplied by BASF in its ﬂexible packaging products for shelf-life extension of fresh produce. This represents a major step in supporting a circular economy.

The chemically recycled resin, with the brand name BASF Ultramid^® CCycled^™, will be incorporated at 30% upon request by customers.

StePac is sub-branding the product. For example, when the chemically recycled resin will be incorporated in the Xtend bulk packaging products, the brand will be referred to as Xtend^® Circular^™. When used in the Xgo retail packaging it will be referred to as Xgo^® Circular^™.

About StePac

Sustainability is at the very heart of StePac’s modiﬁed humidity (MH) technology which StePac invented over two decades ago, integrated with modiﬁed atmosphere (MA) packaging.

In an era when the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced to the world that over 50% of global fresh produce perishes before it makes it to our plate, it is more relevant than ever to be part of the solution to prolong the viability of our global food resources. StePac‘s Postharvest and Polymer R&D laboratory are continuously developing the next generation of waste-reduction solutions to maximise shelf life of perishable produce with the greatest attention to environmental stewardship by ensuring reduced emissions and recyclability.