PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2019

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 20 No. 04/19 www.petpla.net 27 technology provided by KHS. After the PET bottle has been manufactured, an ultra-thin glass coating is applied to its inside wall. These coated PET bottles are 100% recyclable, says KHS, as the coating is washed off during the recy- cling process, producing pure, fully seg- regated PET. This is confirmed by pack- aging expert Benedikt Kauertz, head of Environmental Assessment of Pack- aging at the independent Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (ifeu) in Heidelberg, Germany. “Glass- coated PET bottles allow juice and nectar bottles to be included in the pure PET cycle and their materials to be recycled together with other used PET bottles for water and carbonated bever- ages, for instance. To this end, how- ever, the deposit-assisted return system must be extended to include these specially optimised bottles.” 97.9% of non-returnable deposit PET bottles are now recycled in this manner; juice bottles are not included in this figure. The first premium juice producers have realised this and are now already using the new FreshSafe PET technology worldwide. This can reduce the circulation of non-return- able PET bottles which are hard to recycle in the medium to long term, acknowledges Mario Dechent, direc- tor of Research and Development for the Eckes-Granini Group GmbH. “We directed our attention to the full recyclability of PET juice bottles very early on. With FreshSafe PET coating technology we’ve been using a sus- tainable system to fill our beverages for over ten years now, one which also permits pure-grade bottle-to-bottle recycling and thus increases the avail- ability of useful recycling materials.” Barrier costs pay off thanks to lower fees Beverage producers naturally incur additional costs when they invest in barrier technology. However, as the overall operating costs are reduced, the procurement pays off quickly. With it juice and nectar producers can switch to less expensive standard PET preforms, relieving them of the obligation to source preforms from a specific manufacturer. In addition, compared to standard composite materials FreshSafe PET is claimed to provide a better barrier quality and to ensure much longer shelf lives. As they are fully recyclable, in the future FreshSafe PET bottles prove more favourable when it comes to the cal- culation of participation fees. KHS offers beverage produc- ers an individual consideration of the total costs accrued when using this barrier technology. “Measured against the huge benefit of additional product protection and longer product shelf lives in particular, the costs per bottle are actually lower,” says Philipp Langhammer, product man- ager for barrier technology at KHS Corpoplast. “In view of the possible extra costs for the circulation of PET bottles which are tricky to recycle levied by the new Packaging Law, beverage producers should make their packaging portfolio future proof now and thus help to introduce a sus- tainable packaging system.” Possible full ban on plastics which are difficult to recycle Non-returnable PET bottles for juice and nectar which are difficult to recycle not only face the threat of higher fees due to their unfavour- able properties. In the long term a complete ban on packaging such as the above could also even come into effect. The European Strategy for Plastics presented by the European Commission at the beginning of 2018 envisages all plastics having to be recycled by 2030. Various national initiatives in other countries of Europe are also promoting the reduction in plastic waste. In France, for example, the only plastics in use by 2025 at the latest should be recyclable. Moreover, in Great Britain new plastic packag- ing is to consist of an average of 30% recycled PET. International beverage producers have also begun to set themselves targets for a much higher recycling quota as a voluntary obliga- tion. “By steadily ousting PET bottles for juice and nectar which are hard to recycle the market is increasingly opening up to recyclable packaging systems,” emphasises Langhammer. The growing demand for FreshSafe PET illustrates that barrier technol- ogy has hit a nerve among beverage producers. “The move away from composite materials which are difficult to recycle has already begun,” states Langhammer. “With the help of our technology the opportunities for pro- cessing pure PET are fundamentally increased.” www.khs.com Mario Dechent, director of R&D at Eckes-Granini (Source: Eckes-Granini Group GmbH) Herbert Snell, managing director of the MultiPet GmbH recycling company. (Source: MultiPet GmbH) Benedikt Kauertz, head of Environmental Assessment of Packaging at the inde- pendent Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (ifeu) in Heidelberg, Germany (Source: ifeu) Philipp Langhammer, coating technology product manager at KHS Corpoplast (Source: KHS Group)