PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2015

PET TOP TALK 21 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 07+08/15 www.petpla.net Coloured PET packaging hinders recycling Three plastics recycling companies, mtm plastics GmbH from Niedergebra and MulitPet GmbH & Multiport GmbH from Bernburg, Germany have joined others in warning the European Plastics Recyclers Europe federation (PRE) that the increasing trend towards more and more colour- ful PET packaging is proving to be a massive hindrance to plastics recycling. And yet the answer would be so simple: If the packaging producers were to use polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE) instead, the colour would not play any role as to whether the recycling process was a success, say Michael Scriba, Managing Director of mtm, and Herbert Snell, Managing Director of MultiPet and Multiport. PRE estimates that if the switch to coloured PET packaging that is currently being driven by the market- ing people continues, an additional 300,000 or so metric tons a year of these coloured plastics could soon come on to the European market. This development is having a severe effect on the recycling process: When the coloured packaging is collected together with the transparent packag- ing, the coloured content has to be separated in an additional step and subsequently coloured grey or black before it can be sold. The problem is that there will be virtually no demand for such a product made of grey or black recycled PET in the foresee- able future, said Snell, confirming the appraisal of the European federation. “In a recyclate market that is already under pressure anyway, the extra sorting costs would be almost impos- sible to bear,” he added. PE/PP recyclers are also watching the new development with concern: “We, too, are being saddled with more and more PET packaging that was previously produced from easy- to-recycle PE or PP. This not only reduces our valuable input, it also causes additional expense because we have to separate the material and dispose of it at extra cost,” explained Scriba from recyclate producer mtm plastics. The advice of the recycling experts is unequivocal: Bottles intended for e.g. cleaning agents, shampoos or cosmetics should be produced from PP or HDPE. The substitution of PP and PS in the tray segment by PET is, in their opinion, a negative example of the development that is now also expected with bottles. The PET tray and blister packs are currently being almost entirely incinerated instead of being turned into a new raw material for the plastics processing indus- try. The reason is the colour and the multi-layer structure of the packs. And yet product designers have complete colour design freedom if they use PE or PP polyolefins for the packaging, because these plastics have proved absolutely unproblematic for recycling for many years now, say the recycling companies. www.mtm-plastics.eu www.mp-bbg.eu