PETpla.net Insider 12 / 2010

REGIONAL MARKET REPORTS 12 PET planet insider Vol. 11 No. 12/10 www.petpla.net Flake versus pellet Asked about the controversy of food grade flakes versus food grade pellets to be used in bottle-to-bottle operations, Frederic Blanchard replied that APPE chose to produce pellets due to the technical challenges in consuming flake > 10% and also with special regards to the risk of contamination with black specks, which – as he says is under control when using pellets. Preforms production in Beaune Preform injection moulding starting in Beaune only in 2008 with an initial investment in 4 new Husky Hypet systems with cavities from 72 to 96. Two more Husky systems were added in 2009 which convert PET and nylon into multi-layer preforms. 25,000t of PET resin was converted into preforms during 2009, of which approximately 5,000t was in RPET (SuperCycle) The total plant in Beaune, i.e. recycling and injection moulding, employs over 130 people. Future expectations Frederic Blanchard comments, “There is a lot to say about recycling and bottle-to-bottle application, for example: Recycling is a young, still a commercially immature  business with many inexperienced people in the market. There is a lack of feed stock resources therefore col-  lection rates must be increased. Markets, including the beverage market, are demand-  ing higher volumes of recycled PET. Therefore the potential for PET recycling remains very high, how- ever customer must accept that with limited availabil- ity rPET pricing is likely to exceed that of virgin PET. The industry and governments must work together  to improve the quality of the collected material (for example the banning of PVC which is a heavy con- taminant in the collection stream). Suppliers must do their homework. Energy consump-  tion and water consumption are still too high, despite the efforts to reduce them. Integration of a recycling process in line with injection  moulding preforms must come. We have been in the recycling business for many years and overcome many challenges, however further challenges lie ahead..” And then he repeats: “I insist that we the recyclers must be able to convert the lowest quality of waste in the highest quality new granulate. Our major custom- ers are now seriously taking ‘sustainability’ as a major board challenge. APPE Beaune with our state of the art recycling facility is best placed to assist with this strate- gic challenge’ APPE’s process uses mechanical recycling Post-consumer PET bottles, supplied in bales, are sorted, washed and shredded to make post consumer 1) flakes, extruded, filtered and crystallised to make NuCycle 2) (non-food grade pellets), converted in a solid state process to make SuperCycle 3) (food grade pellets). (For a technical description in detail refer to PETplanet Insider issue No. 5+6, 2003.) The Beaune plant has an intake capacity of 45,000t in bales and an output of 35,000t in finished pellet form. The difference of 10,000t (with an approximate value of some €3m Euros) is reject material (heavily contaminated PET bottles, coloured bottles, caps, labels, glue, organics and/or non-PET material such as Tetra bricks, metal cans, HDPE bottles, PVC bottles and other). “We are targeting zero waste. Even waste from PET waste collection must not go to landfill, but should find other uses”, Frederic Blanchard said. The flakes (35,000t) are converted into 35,000t of NuCycle pellets. At present 8,000t are used for non-food preforms and, after SSP processing, 27,000t as SuperCy- cle pellets (currently) with food approval. Production assistant Benoît Peborde and the Gneuss filter Equipment Suppliers to APPE over a period of almost 20 years: For washing: Sorema  For crystallisation and extrusion: Erema, Bühler and  Davis Standard For filtration: Gneuss  For Solid State Process: Ohl, Stokes, Bühler  Prime customers at APPE for SuperCycle Due to the high quality of APPE’s material, principal customers are usually aligned who have a high focus on sustainability such as Danone & Coca Cola. These type of customers are looking for firm commitments to reduce their carbon footprint by using SuperCycle.