PETpla.net Insider 07+08 / 2019

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 07+08/19 www.petpla.net 11 The buzzword: circular economy These days, everyone is talking about the “circular economy”. The term may not yet have an entry in many dictionaries, but an internet query yields over five million results, not counting translations into other languages. But what does this buzzword – which is used in many fields besides the plastics industry – actually mean? Mostly, people talk about recycling, about col- lection and reprocessing instead of single usage and disposal. Vöslauer is heading for the 100% mark For beverage producer Vöslauer Mineralwasser in Bad Vöslau, Austria, circular economy is not just a buzzword, but a company philosophy. Although Vöslauer PET bottles already consist of “rePET” (that’s what the company calls the recovered secondary raw materials) to a large extent, this is not enough for the manufacturer: no less than 100% in all of its bottles is the ambitious target, with its implementation planned as quickly as possible. Like many other brand owners, Vöslauer has registered a voluntary self-commitment with the EU that pledges to raise the usage of rePET from 3,300 to 5,500 metric tons within the next years. “We aspire to become better and better, to continue to develop our products, bottles, and packaging including labels and tray films – our prin- ciple is to design each product in a more sustainable way than its predecessor”, says CEO Birgit Aichinger. “In the last decade, we have repeatedly optimised Vöslauer bottles, labels and caps in view of their recyclability (“design for recy- cling”)”, adds CEO Herbert Schlossnikl. As recently as October 2018, the family business called attention to itself as it was the first Austrian company to intro- duce a bottle made from 100% rePET on the Austrian market; in Germany, the entire product range (except for Vöslauer Balance) was already changed to 100% rePET beginning of 2019. To support these efforts, Vöslauer monitors the amount of material used in produc- tion, as a low transport weight ensures a lower carbon footprint. The wholesome concept extends to the entire spectrum: Latest by 2025, all films and labels will consist of 100% recycled material, and beverage crates will enter a recycling loop to 100%. Vöslauer obtains the recycled mate- rial from PET to PET Recycling Öster- reich GmbH located in the Austrian. In the previous year, this recycling site, which Vöslauer has founded jointly with Coca-Cola, Egger, Rauch and Spitz, has processed around 25,400t of PET which is equivalent to one billion PET bot- tles. Since 2010, PET to PET has been operating a Starlinger recoStar PET 125 HC iV+ for the recycling of washed and sorted PET flakes. This line raises the molecular weight of rPET to the original level of virgin PET via a process known as polycondensation; as a result, the material maintains its intrinsic viscos- ity and is therefore suitable for a 100% closed recycling loop. The process also provides extensive decontamination of the material, rendering it suitable for food contact. The individual process steps of the PET to PET recycling line, e.g. drying, extrusion, filtration, and energy recovery, are being optimised continuously in order to achieve the highest possible capacity. Through these measures, the company hopes to better meet the increasing demand for high-quality regranulate. www.recycling.starlinger.com To achieve a 100% closed circle, a number of obstacles have to be overcome. Companies see availabil- ity of material as the biggest chal- lenge; for the continuous production with secondary raw materials, the supply needs to be ensured in suf- ficient quantities. This starts with an area-wide collection system, since everything that is not collected can also not be recycled. Also, materials that are collected, but turned into dif- ferent kinds of products fall out of the closed loop. Yet another obstacle is the attitude of the population towards recycled goods; in the past, recycled materials have often been dismissed as inferior. This image influences the collection morale of each individual as well as the willingness of brand owners to replace primary with sec- ondary raw materials. On the part of the recyclers, there are technical limitations such as mate- rial losses through washing and grind- ing of the PET bottles. An example is PET fines; these are small particles of 1-3mm in size that occur in the amount of up to 5%. Quite often, recy- clers lack the equipment to process these fines into high-quality material, causing it to be used in inferior appli- cations. This situation prompted Star- linger to develop recycling lines for PET fines that take the special char- acteristics of this material stream into account. Two solutions are possible: processing PET fines jointly with PET flakes, or processing them separately on a special recycling line for fines.