MERCOSUR Proposes Updated Recycled Food-Contact PET Regulation

A proposed MERCOSUR regulation, MERCOSUR Technical Regulation on Post-Consumer Recycled Food Grade Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Packaging (Food Grade PET-PCR) intended to be in contact with food (P. Res. 07/24), would repeal and replace the existing MERCOSUR GMC Res. No 30/07. The draft regulation includes registration, documentation, and record-keeping requirements for recycling facilities that are similar to the requirements in the EU Recycled Plastics Regulation, Commission Regulation (EU) No 2022/1616. It also includes definitions for “chemical recycling,” “methanolysis,” and “glycolysis.”
The proposed P. Res. 07/24 was published along with other documents from the November 2024 meetings of the MERCOSUR Food Commission and the MERCOSUR SGT No. 3 (the subgroup that oversees the Food Commission).
The documents also included an update on an August 2024 Argentine Proposal to amend MERCOSUR GMC Res. No. 02/12, MERCOSUR Technical Regulation on the positive list of monomers, other starting substances, and polymers authorized for the production of plastic containers and equipment in contact with food, to allow for the use of starting substances obtained from advanced chemical recycling in the manufacture of food contact materials. Delegations from Brazil and Uruguay agreed with the request for review; while the delegation from Paraguay reported that internal analysis of the request is ongoing.
The complete November 2024 SGT No. 3 meeting documents are available at: https://documentos.mercosur.int/public/reuniones/doc/10564, and the November 2024 MERCOSUR Food Commission meeting documents are available at: https://documentos.mercosur.int/public/reuniones/doc/10633.