MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 10/21 www.petpla.net 17 MATERIALS / RECYCLING 17 PET to PET Recycling Österreich GmbH was founded in April 2006 and is operated by leading companies in the Austrian beverage industry. Today, the 53,000m² site is claimed to be one of the most modern PET recycling plants in the world. In 2010, a granulation plant was added to the recycling plant in Müllendorf. This was followed in the following year by the start of the new automatic bottle sorting stage and the installation of a silo plant, both of which were expanded again in 2017. In 2018, the PET to PET in-house laboratory was expanded, and in 2020 the handling areas and the granulation plant were extended. www.pet2pet.at additives and, especially, to foreign polymers that change the material’s properties. In particular, if the added substances are thermally overloaded at PET processing temperatures, the optical and mechanical components are severely compromised. Last but not least, all elements used to manufacture and confi gure a beverage bottle must meet the criteria for full recyclability. PETplanet: In 2009, Austria took PET returnable bottles off the market. Now the mineral water bottler Vöslauer has announced that it will revert to returnable PET bottles from 2022. How do you assess this changeover and does it affect you as a recycling company? Strasser: Based on studies which show that the disposable PET beverage bottle when combined with a closed bottle-to-bottle cycle has the same ecological impact compared to the returnable glass bottle and that only a returnable PET bottle is better for the environment, I see the impact being relatively minor and would expect a slight decrease in returnable glass bottles. PETplanet: Thank you very much Mr Strasser. Sorting station (photo: Andi Bruckner) E N D L E S S I N N O V A T I O N S I N C E 1 9 1 9
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