28 TRADE SHOW REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 22 No. 12/21 www.petpla.net PRSE Amsterdam review Record numbers attend Plastics Recycling Show Europe 2021 The 5th Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRSE) exhibition and conference hold November 4-5, 2021 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, attracted a record number of visitors and exhibitors from across Europe. The annual event had a total attendance of more than 4,400 over two days and attracted over 180 exhibiting companies. Over 3,500 attended the in-person event and nearly 900 others attended virtually. Opened in a virtual presentation by Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries at the European Commission, the two-day PRSE conference showcased the latest developments in plastics recycling technology and applications, as well as exploring future industry challenges and the legislative landscape within the EU. Unique in Europe, PRSE brings together exhibitors, visitors and Plastics Recycling Awards Europe finalists representing the whole value chain of the plastics industry including recyclers, machine producers, raw material producers, converters, waste management companies and, increasingly, brand owners, retailers and investors. The hybrid event this year also allowed people unable to visit the event in person to view elements of the conference programme via livestream including the welcome address, keynote speeches and sponsored presentations as well as the announcement of winners of the Plastics Recycling Awards Europe. Online-only visitors were also able to interact directly with exhibitors. The Plastics Recycling Show Europe returns to Hall 12 at RAI Amsterdam on June 22-23, 2022. PETplanet has compiled some highlights from the PET sector and beyond in this second part of our review. www.prseventeurope.com Taking a holistic approach to PET packaging with AWArPET PET bottles containing post-consumer recycled material – rPET – have in a relatively short time become a common sight, rather than the exception that they were just a few years ago; use of rPET is destined to increase further, with a growing number of bottles made in 100% rPET. Sipa has built up experience through its expertise in bottle design and in process technologies to enable the use of rPET. This means not only creating designs that take into account differences and variations in processing characteristics of rPET, but also other less obvious factors such as the increased level of powder that rPET processing creates (more on this later). Containers incorporating rPET will only be accepted by brand owners and consumers if they perform as well as containers made from virgin material. That means rPET arriving at the converter has to be clean and consistent, and with processability during preform production and bottle blowing that is almost, if not exactly, the same as virgin PET. A new brand - AWArPET These days, Sipa’s product design experts are involved in the development of 3,000 or more new packaging designs every year. The three R – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – are constant principles in all of these projects, as the company states. Sipa has now established a new brand – AWArPET – which stands for an environmentally conscious approach to the design and production of PET packaging. The Green Plastic Factor AWArPET bottles are very light. Sipa has for example been involved in one design project, code-named Mario, for a 1 l water bottle weighing just 16 g, far lighter than most 1 l bottles currently on the market. The company believes that over the next three to five years, the weight could come down even more. However, low weight is not a be-all and end-all. Consideration also needs to be given to the notion that a well-designed but heavier PET bottle, with a PET label, may actually in the end prove more sustainable than a lighter one that has a multilayer structure or a PVC label, both of which hinder recycling efforts. From flake to preform in a single step The joint development between Sipa and Erema on the Xtreme Renew process incorporates ground-breaking technologies that enable rPET to be converted in a fully integrated system directly into injection-compression molded preforms. Xtreme Renew eliminates an entire section of the heat history of rPET, making it considerably more cost-effective than alternative systems, while also offering extra benefits in terms of carbon footprint. Sipa believes that for converters considering the use of high volumes of rPET, it is a highly attractive proposition Recyclass rules Sipa strictly follows the Recyclass Design for Recycling guidelines established by EPBP, the European PET Bottle Platform. This voluntary industry initiative provides PET bottle design guidelines for recycling, evaluates PET bottle packaging solutions and technologies, and facilitates understanding of the effects of new PET bottle innovations on recycling processes. www.sipasolutions.com www.erema.com F.l.t.r. Roberta Gualtieri, Marketing Manager Sipa, Christoph Wöss, Business Development Manager at Erema Group and Mr Pablo Fiorentini, Global Sales Director Preform Systems & Tooling at Sipa.
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