The European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA), together with Flexible Packaging Europe (FPE), is launching a new European alliance to address a long-standing structural weakness in aluminium recycling: the under-collection and under-sorting of small aluminium packaging formats. Despite aluminium’s near-infinite recyclability and high overall recovery rates in Europe, lightweight and small items such as coffee capsules, dairy lids, confectionery foils, and semi-rigid containers remain systematically lost within existing waste management systems.

From a technical perspective, the issue is not a lack of recyclability but inconsistent sorting performance. While modern optical sorting lines, eddy current separators, and advanced sensor-based technologies are already capable of identifying and separating small aluminium fractions, these technologies are not uniformly deployed across Europe. In many regions, minimum size thresholds in sorting plants still prevent effective recovery, causing small aluminium items to be diverted to residual waste streams and incineration. Recovery from bottom ash remains common but does not meet the forthcoming “recycled-at-scale” criteria under the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR).

The regulatory timeline adds urgency. Under the PPWR, packaging materials must demonstrate scalable, high-quality recycling pathways, supported by verifiable collection and sorting data. At the same time, the rollout of deposit-return schemes (DRS) across European markets is removing aluminium beverage cans from household waste streams, reducing competition for sorting capacity and opening operational space to focus on more challenging packaging formats.

The alliance, officially launching on 1 January 2026, will work across the full value chain, from aluminium foil producers and flexible packaging converters to brand owners, fillers, and recycling specialists, to identify technical bottlenecks, align design-for-recycling criteria, and support targeted pilot projects at sorting and recycling facilities.

With confirmed participation from 16 companies, including Amcor, Alupak, Constantia Flexibles, Laminazione Sottile, Nestlé Nespresso, JDE Peet’s, Speira, and Symetal, the initiative reflects a coordinated industry response aimed at translating regulatory pressure into practical, system-level improvements that can deliver reliable circularity for small aluminium packaging across Europe.