Quinn Packaging introduces 'Detecta,' black plastic packaging

Quinn Packaging is one of the UK and Ireland’s leading thermoformed food packaging manufacturers. Detecta is its new flagship product addressing the problem of carbon black packaging commonly used in plastic trays for meat, poultry and convenience foods. 90% of carbon black plastic goes to landfill as it is not detectable by the sorting systems at Waste Recovery Facilities. Quinn packaging developed a material blend that would be detected and therefore recycled, helping retailers and brand owners ‘close the loop’ on difficult-to-recycle plastics. The new Detecta by Quinn product (patent pending) is fully recyclable and made with over 90% recycled PET material.

Following the launch of Detecta in February 2019, Tesco Ireland agreed to switch all its non-detectable black meat packaging to Detecta, diverting 500 tonnes of black plastic to recycling that would otherwise have gone directly to landfill. A number of key retailers are planning to follow suit.