PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2012

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 10 PET planet insider Vol. 13 No. 03/12 www.petpla.net Market perceptions of rPET do not reflect the true challenges of PET recycling says Appe The rPET market and its challenges The lack of high quality food-grade rPET material is hampering the aspirations of brand owners and fillers to increase the amount of rPET used in their packaging port- folio, according to APPE, the Packaging Division of LaSeda de Barcelona (LSB). APPE and its sister company Artenius manufacture PET preforms and containers, and virgin PET resin, as well as recycling food-grade PET recycler in Europe, with extensive experience and expertise in remanu- facture with rPET. This position has given the company a detailed per- spective of the challenges facing the recycling market. The company sup- plies global brands, some of which are driving the demand for greater rPET usage as they seek to reduce the environmental impact of their packaging, in line with the indus- try’s drive for sustainability, reduced carbon footprint and also consumers’ increasing awareness of environmen- tal issues. Availability and quality of rPET In a presentation ‘ The Challenges of Recycling for Food-Grade Appli- cation’ by Frédéric Blanchard, Plant Director of APPE’s dedicated recy- cling plant in Beaune, France. Mr. Blanchard was addressing delegates at the PETnology Europe 2011 con- ference held in Nuremberg, Germany prior to the Brau Beviale exhibition. Blanchard said that brand owners perceive rPET as a solution to their sustainability objectives and a way to communicate environmentally friendly credentials to consumers. However, some also incorrectly per- ceive it as a cost-reduction initiative. “Two of the major challenges facing rPET recycling for food-contact applications are the availability and quality of bale feed-stock,” explained Mr. Blanchard. “European reclama- tion capacity is increasing through the entrance of new but inexperi- enced recyclers into the market, but the collection of suitable material is not rising at the same pace. This imbalance of demand and supply is causing the price of the raw material – post-consumer PET bales – to rise to record highs, albeit recently price levels have dropped significantly as such high price levels were unsus- tainable. Longer term prices are set to rise once again and to track virgin PET pricing.” Specifications for rPET production While stringent technical speci- fications have been put in place for the supply of virgin resin, comparable requirements have not been estab- lished for rPET. APPE has imple- mented its own highly demanding specifications for rPET production, but other inexperienced food grade rPET producers have not yet intro- duced such measures. In order to maintain quality and safety, food-con- tact end-use customers must there- fore adopt high-quality standards and ensure that closed-loop food-grade rPET is truly food-approved. In addition, only 22% of rPET pro- duced in Europe is currently reused