PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2020

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 06/20 www.petpla.net 16 Recycling food packaging: the role of PET Packaging containing more than one type of plastic presents specific challenges that the industry must overcome. Increasing environmental awareness has placed a lot of pressure on the use of plastics in packaging. Companies like Unilever, Evian, Wal-Mart, Amcor, PepsiCo and L’Oréal have committed to making their products 100% recyclable by 2025. Top web Base web Structure Yield / gsm Structure Yield / gsm Original format 12/45 PET /PE.EVOH.PE 58.8 270/50 PET/PE 418.6 Mono-PET format 30 PET 42.0 270 PET 372.6 Weight saving 29% 11% Fig.1: Raw proteins–typical challenge, presented by Mark Dawes, DuPont Teijin Films at Petcore Europe 2020 Virgin PET is used widely in bot- tles, films and trays in the food and beverage/groceries market; recycled PET (rPET) is found increasingly in, for example, bottles, in fibre and strapping, and insulation products. The food & beverage sector recog- nises the need to increase its use of rPET and to address problems of recycling within its own supply chain. The issues were discussed at the Pet- core European Conference 2020. Trays PET is the material of choice for the tray component in packages for fresh produce (especially in the UK); ready meals; and proteins – primarily meat but also non-meat alternatives. Lids Making lids and tops of PE film complicates recycling. If multiple ele- ments are not fully separated, the recy- cling stream becomes contaminated. Closing the loop: recycling and circular manufacturing At the Petcore conference in February 2020, Mark Dawes, Market Development Manager, DuPont Teijin Films, acknowledged that the estab- lished practice of making trays of PET and lids of PE has worked well for a long time; the sealing properties of PE are well known and have inspired con- fidence. Upcoming legislation, apply- ing across the EU from 2025 and in the UK from 2022, will drive change. UK legislation will apply to plastic packaging with less than 30% recy- cled content and will affect all busi- nesses that make or import packag- ing. The proposed measures will treat ‘easily separable components’, such as a lid and a tray, as two distinct and taxable items. Making trays and lids from the same material helps to mitigate the impact of the new tax. PET’s charac- teristics make it the most viable cur- rent option for closed-loop manufac- ture, for mechanically and chemically recycling back into itself with full food contact status. BoPET (biaxially-ori- ented PET) film offers the established PET characteristics of aroma barrier, protection, insulation, temperature resistance and mechanical strength. PET also offers potential benefits in terms of cost and packaging weight (see Fig.1) and the majority of appli- cations can be converted immediately. PET: standalone product in recycling Dr Ana Fernandez, KP Films Corporation, pointed out that PET food packaging does not rely on other products in order to close the manu- facturing loop and said that recycling thermoforms is the last step. 2016 saw a million PET sheets consumed in Europe, of which half was post-consumer rPET (PCR); 40% (400,000 t ) was virgin PET; 10% was industrial waste. Of those trays that contained more than 50% rPET, 40% were monoPET; 30% were PET/PE mix; and 30% were high barrier trays. Closed loop manufacturing will require the active co-operation of all stakeholders, including kerbside col- lections and recycling operations (see Fig.2). The industry has to stimulate demand for recyclable packaging and recycled content and design for sorting and recycling, which will be based upon the use primarily of clear and mono material. Coloured material must be NIR (near infra-red) detect- able. Several projects addressing cir- cular manufacturing and closed-loop recycling are currently in place across Europe, including: Thermoforming Working Group; Citeo Recyclage PB PET; CEUS “circular Economy for the Valorisation of Urban Plastic Waste”; PET Trays working group of the German Plastic Packaging Indus- try Association. The first “Holy Grail” research and development project achieved 70% efficiency in sorting monoPET and multiPET. It found that tray positioning affects detection rates but lids did not affect monoPET detection. Absorbent pads do, how- ever; removal by final user should be encouraged. Holy Grail 2.0 achieved 100% detection in controlled tests at three metres/second, and upper 90% accu- racy in mixed waste. It was also able to detect and account for inverted trays. The main recommendations are that trommels are useful for items of up to 40 mm diameter; shredders lead to low bulk density and gen- eration of ‘fines’. Caustic washing at 95 o C for 10-15 minutes helps to Recycling Special