Informal discussions are taking place on working documents from the Commission, that could go on to form the basis of harmonised EU rules governing plastic materials and articles in contact with food, the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) reported. Harmonising the rules would make it easier for processors to trade under the same requirements across the EU, where a hodgepodge of regulations exist on the use of recycled plastic by the food sector. "Under this draft proposal, a system will be put in place that will allow a person or company to apply for an authorisation to use a specified process to recycle food contact plastics for further use in contact with food," the FSA reported. "The processes that will be authorised will be managed by a quality assurance system that guarantees the reproducible quality of the recycled plastic." The proposed regulation would set the conditions under which recycled plastics can be used as a source of manufacturing food contact plastics. It would also harmonise rules for manufacture and for the authorisation of the recycling process. The Commission's draft deals with mechanical processes for recycling plastic food packaging for further use by processors, the FSA reported. The proposals do not deal with recycling that use processes of chemical depolymerisation, a method already subject to the rules laid down in EU Directive 2002/72/EC.
