PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2016

MATERIAL / RECYCLING 13 PET planet insider Vol. 17 No. 05/16 www.petpla.net These first bottles contained an additional plastic component of HDPE in the bottle’s base, the so-called base cup, which in the second stage of the process was stuck to the actual PET bottle with a rounded bottle base, ensuring that it stood upright. Without this base cup, the bottles could not stand upright. The 80g light non-refillable bottles also caused quite a stir in Europe. In Germany for example, in 1980 the press were celebrating Coca-Cola’s market test of a PET bottle as “the perfect solution”. The recycling of PET At this time, the recycling of bottles was also in full flow. Only four years after the modification of PET for bottle pro- duction, the first bot- tles were recycled in 1977. Want the secret to bottle light weighting? Process Pilot ® automated blowmolder control system takes the guesswork out of material distribution management and can help ensure the success of even the most aggressive light weighting program. Featuring 24/7 blowmolder control, the Process Pilot system continuously maintains proper material distribution, on every bottle, to an unmatched level of accuracy. With the Process Pilot system, you have the means to push light weighting to the limit without VDFULȴFLQJ ERWWOH TXDOLW\ RU SHUIRUPDQFH Not convinced? Talk to one of our specialists today to schedule a free seminar and evaluation of the Process Pilot system on one of your blowmolding lines. Web: agrintl.com Tel: +1.724.482.2163 E-mail: sales@agrintl.com See us at booth 11B40 However, the HDPE bottle base added on proved to be inappropriate in the recycling process and it became redundant with the introduction of the Petaloid base. From now on, PET bot- tles could be produced as one piece and recycled at less cost. The associ- ated patent “Bottom end structure for plastic containers” (published in 1971) was granted to the Continental Can Company. The first recycled bottles were turned into bottle base cups. Even today, a large part of the recycled material is used in areas of application beyond the production of new bottles, for example in the textile industry. At the start of the 1990s the first PET bottles with a recycling content came onto the market. In the bottle-to-bottle recycling process, the recyclate is used in the production of new PET bottles. Drivers of innovation Playing an even better part than the bottles in the recycling process is material which can be saved right from the start in production. Thus the PET sector has been continu- ously improving the bottles through to today – for example in relation to their weight in the area of material, preforms, closing systems and the bottle design. 0.5l bottles for still water can now be produced as ultra-light containers weighing less than 8g and in the hot-fill sector at under 60g. And even 1.5l bottles made from PET for mineral water have a weight of under 20g for still water and under 25g for carbonated. So that bottles do not deform on opening, the bottle designs must also be continually adjusted. One other innovation driver is the rise in the areas of application result- ing from the continual improvements in the material. Barrier bottles for beer, juice, tea or wine were a massive step for PET. Aseptic filling, for example with milk, demands the most sophisti- cated technologies, including sterilis- ing the preform or bottle and closing device, as well as sterile filling. Here there must surely be potential uses for the PET bottle which have not yet been exhausted. And PET bottles made from plant materials, such as the PET bottle introduced in 2015 by Coca Cola, made entirely from plant materials, point to further possibilities for improvement. Water is, as ever, the biggest market, with a continuing small rise in growth rates world-wide, whilst the CSD market, which helped PET to bloom as a drinks container, is seen as stagnating. The largest growth rate in terms of new developments for PET containers, comes from the dairy market. Geographically, key market drivers include rising incomes in devel- oping markets of Asia Pacific, South and Central America and Central and Eastern Europe. In terms of geographi- cal regions, Asia Pacific overtook both North America and Western Europe to become the largest regional market for PET packaging. www.forum-pet.de et al. Coloured PET bottles, manufactured on standard SBM machines (photo: Gizeh) 7.5g bottle for 0.5l of still water (photo: PET Engineering)