Denmark: partnership ensures bottle-to-bottle recycling
The Dutch recycler Morssinkhof-Rymoplast and the Danish deposit system Dansk Retursystem have taken their long-lasting collaboration to a new level by extending the existing bottle-to-bottle loop for clear and light blue bottles to include green PET beverage bottles in line with the principle of circular economy.
Due to an increasing demand for recycled PET-materials among the European beverage industry ‘bottle-to-bottle recycling’ is growing in the EU – especially for the clear and light blue beverage bottles, whereas coloured PET bottles are still mainly recycled into non-food applications and therefore no longer available in the food packaging loop.
The demand for recycled PET-bottle (rPET) grade is projected to continue to grow. Particularly because PET beverage bottles in average must contain 25 per cent of recycled plastic in 2025 according to the Single Use Plastic Directive. The Directive also states that 77 per cent of the plastic beverage bottles sold on the European market must be separately collected and recycled.
For several years Dansk Retursystem has supplied Morssinkhof-Rymoplast with bales of high-quality PET-bottles from the Danish market to be recycled in a closed loop into new bottles. “‘We continuously strive to strengthen our common goal of ensuring that as many of the collected bottles as possible find use in the production of new bottles for beverages. Morssinkhof-Rymoplast is therefore happy to announce that we now have managed to establish a bottle-to-bottle loop for not only the clear bottles but also for all the green bottles that we receive and recycle from the Danish market”, CEO Stefan Morssinkhof says.
The closed loop for green beverage bottles will contribute positively to the quantities of rPET material for beverages in EU and to the possibility of meeting the obligations set out in the directive.
In Denmark all plastic beverage bottles for beers, soft drinks, mineral water, juice, iced tea, and alcoholic soft drinks are covered by the national deposit system operated by Dansk Retursystem that last year achieved a historical high return rate: “96 per cent of plastic bottles with deposit were returned by the Danish consumers in 2020. The vast majority were clear and slightly light blue PET-bottles, while the green PET bottles dominated the share of coloured bottles. Since we work hard to achieve bottle-to-bottle recycling for as many items as possible, we really appreciate our joint effort in this field”, says Vice president and Director of circular economy at Dansk Retursystem Heidi Schütt Larsen.
Next step in the collaboration between the two companies is to ensure bottle-to-bottle recycling for the dark blue bottles.
