Going Full Circle: a multi-stakeholder approach to risk analysis of recycled food contact materials

Europe is transitioning to a circular economy, in which waste is (re)used as a resource for new cycles. However, the circular economy is a double-edged sword. Despite its potential environmental benefits, it can also introduce potential food risks. This thesis investigates how risk analysis of food contact materials can be improved in the context of the transition to the circular economy. The results highlight that assessing the impact of recycling on risk analysis is highly complex and mainly suffers from a lack of data, which is made worse by the unpredictable mixtures that can be formed during recycling. The networks that exist to perform risk analysis are also very complex, and have very different structures between EU Member States. Bringing together different stakeholders from these networks, potential solutions were developed, including a roundtable to discuss how different stakeholders experience different barriers to circularization. First steps in overcoming these barriers include setting up a platform to exchange risk analysis data.