Thailand to lift a ban on recycled plastic for food container 
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Ministry of Public Health of Thailand opened a “(Draft) Criteria, Conditions, and Guidelines for Evaluating the Recycled Plastic Processing and Recycled Plastic Pellets Safety for Food Contact Materials” for public hearing in September. Although the use of recycled plastic for food containers or packaging is prohibited in Thailand at this moment, FDA plans to lift a ban to promote the recycling of plastic in line with a global trend of the circular economy.
The Food Division of the FDA is currently under consideration to update the notification of the Ministry of Public Health on determining the quality or standard of plastic containers. The key issue is to review the approval of plastic containers made from recycled plastic pellets. The safety of recycled plastic containers comes from the efficiency of the plastic recycling process. Countries with credible regulatory frameworks have guidelines for allowing containers made from recycled plastic. For this reason, Thailand shall establish an efficient assessment method of the plastic recycling process and the safety of recycled plastics. This is to ensure that the recycling process can eliminate the contaminants from the misuse of used plastics as recycled feedstock.
In this regard, the FDA in collaboration with (1) Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University, (2) Department of Packaging and Materials Technology, Faculty of Agro-Industry, Kasetsart University, and (3) the Agricultural Research Development Agency (Public Organization) have developed a draft on Criteria, Conditions, and Guidelines for Evaluating the Recycled Plastic Processing and Recycled Plastic Pellets Safety for Food Contact Materials. This draft will be used to navigate the guidelines for recycled plastic pellet producers in assessing the efficiency of their recycling process.
Download original text of the“(Draft) Criteria, Conditions, and Guidelines for Evaluating the Recycled Plastic Processing and Recycled Plastic Pellets Safety for Food Contact Materials” at
https://www.fda.moph.go.th/sites/food/FileNews/DRAFT/64_recycle/1_Draft.pdf
