PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2020

MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 06/20 www.petpla.net 34 Recycled PET research since 2012 Closed plastics loop with sustainable systems The debate on plastic is presenting the beverage and food industries with a number of big challenges. The KHS Group is clear that the increased use of recycled PET provides a sig- nificant partial solution to this problem. The Dortmund systems supplier is thus focusing on sustainable products and services which help to close the recycling loop. According to business magazine Forbes, around 140 PET bottles per head are circulated in Europe each year, with this figure more than twice that in the USA at 290. Despite all the criticism the plastic container is actually growing in popularity, with the number used increasing globally by around 4% per year. Awareness of the need to recycle is also on the rise, however; according to Forbes, an estimated 57% of all used PET bottles were collected worldwide in 2019. For 2029 the magazine fore- casts that this rate will increase to 68% – albeit with major differences from region to region. While 57% of all bottles could be collected in Europe, in the USA this would only amount to 30%. China, on the other hand, could become something of a model student and in ten years achieve an impressive collection rate of 82%. Collecting does not neces- sarily mean recycling, however: in the USA 70% of all collected plastics end up at waste disposal sites – and in Europe 30%. Practically made for recycling: plastic Yet plastic can be very easily recycled, especially PET. It is the only plastic that, when recycled, satisfies the legal requirements governing food grade materials. Whereas with other materials, such as polypropylene, polyethylene and polystyrene, the loss of quality which occurs on application of the usual recycling methods is irreversible, recycled PET can always be brought up to the standard of new material. It is thus no surprise to learn that of the approximately 477,000mt of PET used each year to make bottles in Germany alone, about 93% of this material is recovered and reused. Only roughly a third of this is used to make new bottles; the rest goes into the manufacturing of films and espe- cially textile fibres. This means that the bottle-to-bottle recycling loop is deprived of a large percentage of this raw material. There is also the devel- opment in price to be considered: while the cost of what is known as virgin PET is based on that of crude oil and benefits from the current low Recycling Special