Why recycled plastics now: Berry Global’s leadership in all-category packaging

Berry Global is a full-spectrum packaging leader, not a single-product vendor. From rigid and flexible plastics to films, nonwovens, and closures, Berry Global’s vertically integrated footprint—resin to finished goods—supports medical, industrial, and consumer markets at scale. In the United States and worldwide, this breadth enables consistent quality, faster innovation cycles, and cost control. The company’s Impact 2025 plan commits to products being 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable; Scope 1 and 2 carbon neutrality by 2030; and integrating 30% recycled content across portfolios by 2030. As of 2023, Berry Global has already integrated approximately 25% rPET/rPE in relevant lines.

One recurring question among technical teams is simple: can rPCR match virgin resin performance for primary packaging—especially food, beverage, personal care, and healthcare adjacency? The short answer: with the right process, yes for most commercial requirements. The longer answer requires data, a transparent look at process controls, and real-world proof.

ASTM test evidence: rPET performance versus virgin PET

Independent, ASTM-certified lab testing on Berry Global’s 500 ml bottles—comparing a 50% rPET blend (with FDA Letter of No Objection) to 100% virgin PET—demonstrates performance differences are small and within commercial requirements.

• Burst Strength (ASTM D2463, 23°C): 50% rPET averaged 14.2 bar (SD 0.8; min 12.5) versus virgin PET 15.1 bar (SD 0.6; min 13.8). That’s ~6% lower, still well above common industry minimums (>10 bar).
• Drop Test (1.5 m, filled and capped): 50% rPET achieved 96% intact (48/50), virgin PET 98% (49/50). Both exceed typical commercial thresholds (>95%).
• Oxygen Permeability (ASTM F1927, 23°C, 50% RH): 50% rPET measured 0.13 cc/bottle/day versus virgin PET 0.11 cc/bottle/day—both within the <0.15 cc/bottle/day target for carbonated beverages.
• FDA food-contact migration (3% acetic acid, 10 days at 40°C): 50% rPET showed 3.2 ppm total migration versus virgin PET 2.8 ppm—both well below the 10 ppm threshold.

These results (TEST-BERRY-001) indicate performance differences under 10% with all metrics meeting commercial standards. For brands planning large-scale rPET integration, this level of parity—combined with validated food-contact safety—is the technical foundation for confidence.

Inside Berry’s Super Clean process and quality controls

Not all recycled materials are created equal. Berry Global’s Super Clean process is designed to consistently deliver FDA-approved rPCR for food-contact applications.

• Feedstock discipline: Majority post-consumer PET beverage bottles (PCR) complemented by post-industrial regrind (PIR). Strict acceptance criteria and mono-material focus reduce variability.
• Multi-stage decontamination: Sorting and size reduction; intensive hot washing and rinsing to remove labels, adhesives, and organic residues; advanced thermal treatment; and vacuum degassing to strip volatiles.
• FDA Letter of No Objection (LNO): Super Clean output achieves >99.9% purity and is certified for food-contact use. Berry Global conducts batch-level testing for contaminant migration and traceability to source streams.
• Consistent compounding: Co-blending with virgin resin is tuned for mechanical performance, barrier behavior, and aesthetics, leveraging Berry’s extrusion and injection/blow molding expertise.

This process-centric approach explains why Berry’s rPCR can achieve ASTM benchmarks comparable to virgin materials, while meeting FDA thresholds for food-contact safety.

Case proof: Unilever’s Dove moves from 25% to 100% rPCR at global scale

From 2019 to 2024, Berry Global partnered with Unilever’s Dove brand to transition HDPE bottles from 25% rPCR to 100% rPCR across ~80 countries (CASE-BERRY-001). The journey is notable both for technical outcomes and supply reliability:

• Phased progression: 25% rPCR pilot (2019–2020) with 98% drop-test pass rate; 50% rPCR via multilayer co-extrusion to mitigate color shifts; 75% rPCR through upgraded cleaning; and finally 100% rPCR HDPE in 2023–2024 pilots scaling globally.
• Supply scale and stability: 4 billion bottles supplied over five years, zero stockouts, 99.5% quality acceptance—demonstrating industrial reliability.
• Environmental impact: 120,000 metric tons of rPCR consumed—equivalent to recovering ~6 billion plastic bottles—and an estimated 276,000 metric tons of CO2 avoided relative to virgin material baselines.
• Consumer response: In 2024 surveys, 62% recognized recycled content labeling; 58% expressed willingness to pay more; Dove’s sales rose ~8% versus 2019, with sustainability perceived as a contributor.

For cost-sensitive portfolios, rPCR typically carries a premium. Dove’s experience shows that design and process engineering can preserve performance and shelf aesthetics while leveraging brand equity in sustainability.

Addressing the performance controversy: process quality is the differentiator

The market debate (CONT-BERRY-001) is real: low-quality rPCR can underperform due to contamination, variable feedstock, and inadequate decontamination. However, the data above—and FDA approval—indicate that high-quality rPCR produced via rigorous processes can meet demanding applications.

• Acknowledge risks: Simplistic mechanical recycling (minimal washing, poor source control) often yields gray tone, odor, lower strength, and inconsistent migration performance.
• What’s different with Berry: Super Clean process achieves >99.9% purity and sub-10 ppm migration. ASTM results show <10% performance deltas versus virgin PET, and commercial outcomes include billions of food-adjacent bottles in-market with complaint rates under 0.01%.
• Application guidance: Use high-quality, FDA-approved rPCR for food, beverage, and personal care primaries; reserve lower-grade rPCR for non-food applications (e.g., trash liners, agricultural films) where aesthetics and migration thresholds are less stringent.

In short, the rPCR-versus-virgin question is answered by process capability and quality assurance, not by the recycled label alone.

Cost, policy, and circular economy impacts

Cost remains the most cited barrier. In 2024, rPET and rPE premiums versus virgin typically range from ~20% to ~50%, and rPP can be higher where supply is tight. Yet the economics are shifting as policy mandates intensify and supply chains scale.

• Policy drivers: The EU’s PPWR framework moves toward a 30% recycled content mandate by 2030 for plastic packaging, with stepped targets (e.g., 25% rPET for beverage bottles by 2025). U.S. states—including California, New York, and Washington—are implementing recycled content requirements with increasing thresholds by 2030–2031.
• Brand commitments: Major CPGs target 25–50% recycled content between 2025 and 2030, creating predictable demand growth and motivating scale contracts.
• Berry’s cost mitigations: Securing multi-year feedstock agreements, leveraging vertically integrated compounding and conversion, and investing in advanced recycling partnerships (e.g., depolymerization to monomers) to expand feedstock pools and reduce volatility. Berry Global’s advanced recycling investments are intended to grow capacity and, by 2030, materially narrow cost gaps.
• Hidden value: Compliance risk avoidance, brand equity uplift, and corporate carbon reductions (Scope 3 influences) can offset premiums. For example, at a scale of 1 billion 500 ml rPET bottles, a 50% rPET blend saves an estimated ~28,750 metric tons of CO2—about a 33% reduction versus all-virgin PET—supporting corporate climate targets.

As recycled content becomes a license-to-operate requirement, the cost conversation aligns with enterprise risk management and value creation—not just per-unit resin pricing.

Beyond materials: Berry Global’s execution advantage

Material science is only one pillar; execution under stress distinguishes partners. During the COVID-19 crisis, Berry Global expanded medical nonwoven protective apparel capacity roughly 100× in ~100 days, investing ~$135 million, installing 20 lines, and supplying ~1.5 billion gowns with zero stockouts to cover ~50% of U.S. market demand at peak. This responsiveness demonstrates the company’s ability to translate strategic intent into rapid, real-world capacity—relevant to any brand planning large recycled-content transitions across multiple geographies.

Designing for performance with rPCR: practical recommendations

• Define the performance envelope: Identify critical-to-quality metrics (e.g., top-load, burst strength, drop survival, OTR/WVTR, stress-crack resistance) and correlate with rPCR blend ratios.
• Use multilayer strategies: For aesthetics and barrier consistency, consider co-ex structures (outer rPCR aesthetic layer, inner food-contact layer, optional barrier interlayer) where materials and regulations permit.
• Color management: Accept subtle grayscale or redesign labels/artwork to embrace a recycled narrative, consistent with Dove’s approach at higher rPCR loadings.
• Qualify suppliers on process, not claims: Request FDA LNO documentation, batch migration reports, and source traceability; audit decontamination steps and thermal profiles.
• Plan scale with supply assurance: Lock multi-year contracts, diversify regional feedstock sources, and build contingency capacity across Berry’s global network.

Conclusion: rPCR parity is achievable—when process and scale align

For U.S. and global brands, rPCR is no longer experimental. The ASTM data for 50% rPET blends show <10% deltas versus virgin PET while meeting food-contact standards. Berry Global’s Super Clean process and vertically integrated manufacturing translate into predictable quality at multi-billion unit scales, with the Unilever Dove program proving 100% rPCR feasibility in-market.

With policy mandates accelerating and consumer awareness rising, the practical question is not whether rPCR can meet performance requirements—it’s which partner can deliver it consistently, safely, and cost-effectively across rigid and flexible formats, films, nonwovens, and closures. Berry Global’s combination of all-category capability, process rigor, FDA approvals, and supply-chain agility makes rPCR implementation a viable pathway to circular economy goals without sacrificing commercial performance.