PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2019

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 04/19 www.petpla.net 19 tion. Due to the fact that the regranulate has already passed through the produc- tion process once or several times the mechanical property does change. The bottles may have a reduced top load compared to new material. There is also the danger that sink marks may appear caused by different shrinkage proper- ties. In addition, these properties can also fluctuate within a production batch of regranulate. This in turn affects the process settings and can lead to a deg- radation in wall thickness distribution. As regards processing and cost- effectiveness, it should be said that when recycled material is used, it is fed separately through the production process. As with virgin material, the regranulate is dried and handled sep- arately. This results in longer set-up times, higher energy consumption and more reject material. Last but not least comes qual- ity and availability. We mainly use food-grade material as recyclate. Customers also demand this quality in cosmetic products. This is top quality recyclate but is more expensive than virgin material. Non-food recyclate is also used for chemical and industrial bottle products. The quality is not as good which leads to increased difficulties in production. Current very high demand and lim- ited recyclate capacity could result in supply bottlenecks in the market. From a technical perspective, PET bottles can be produced using 100% rPET but for mentioned reasons we recommend 50% virgin and 50% recy- cled material. PETplanet: More and more bot- tles made from 100% rPET are now appearing on the drinks market, reflecting the tone of current debate on the issue of sustainability. Does 100% recycled material mean that it could not be more sustainable? Löhl: PET beverage bottles made from 100% recycled material are only used for niche products. Currently, an average of around 26% of rPET is used for bevarage drinks bottles in Germany. No industrial recycling process also with non-plastic materials exists in which 100% of an old material can always be converted into 100% of a “new” prod- uct. There are always process-related losses. This occurs as a result of sorting, grinding and associated dust generation, as well as start-up waste created during the production of regranulate etc. Waste generated during this process is used in Germany for thermal recycling. It can be assumed that a ratio between 5%-10% of the original material is lost due to the recycling process. In addition, the quality of the mate- rial is getting worse due to the perma- nent recycling. If only 100% recycled material would always beeing used for all “new” products, no material would be available within a short period of time anymore! This means that the use of 100% rPET is not sustainable. The desire to use as much as 100% recycled mate- rial is essentially driven by marketing. Everyone would like to write 100% rPET on the label to suggest a sustain- able product to the end consumer. Although this reflects the spirit of the times, it is not technically feasible in the long-term. As with any other mate- rial, for plastics it is vital that new mate- rial is added into the process; other- wise it will not function indefinitely. Comparison preforms made from virgin PET (on the right) and made from 50% rPET About E-ProPlast E-ProPlast is a medium-sized company based in Schmalkalden, Germany. It has been producing standard and individual customer PET bottles for start-up busi- nesses and well-known manufac- turers in the food, chemical and cosmetic industries since 2002. Many bottles are manufactured for niche products. It hardly ever produces classic bevarage bottles such as those used for CSD, min- eral water and soft drinks. The company supports its customers from the initial design development stage through the mould making process till the pro- duction of preforms and bottles. The size of PET bottles pro- duced today range from between 10-1,500ml. Production takes place on two -stage stretch-blow moulding lines. The required pre- forms are manly made at the com- pany’s own production facilities. www.e-proplast.eu PETplanet: Are you able to com- ment on current availability of recycled PET? Löhl: As demand increases so availability becomes more critical and rPET prices rise. The quality also suf- fers rather than improve. PETplanet: What in your view can be done to improve the current market situation? Löhl: We can only assess the market from the point of view of a bottle manufacturer. A study conducted by GVM (Gesellschaft für Verpackungs- marktforschung mbh) in 2018 showed that around two-thirds of the PET recy- clate produced is used in the production of foil and fibres, while only one-third goes back to bottle to bottle production. However, foil and fibres hardly provide any input to the recycling stream! Good quality rPET currently comes almost exclusively from bevarage bottles. Here, the German bottle deposit system plays an important role. However the recycling stream of dual systems (yellow bag) has still a