MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 24 No. 01+02/23 www.petpla.net 23 Varying quality rPET The quality of mechanically recycled rPET can vary greatly. The quality is influenced and impacted by several different factors like the effectiveness of sorting and contamination. This means that there is a high demand and poor availability of high quality, clear rPET, the cost of rPET is sky-rocketing. Costs: conclusion These factors all contribute to a massive demand for high quality rPET. The industry is putting a lot of efforts on making more high quality rPET available through better collection, separation, sorting, washing and reprocessing. Holland Colours witnesses a shift in terms of food contact rPET purchase strategy. Brand owners have actively sought out ways to secure a steady supply of rPET that meets their standards by investing in and widening the Deposit Return Schemes and reprocessing facilities. This ensures a steady flow of rPET which can be collected and processed according to their standards. More recently integration, consolidation and expansion of recycling capacity in the value chain has become the standard. But high quality rPET is still scarce. In order to hit the 25% rPET mark for PET bottles, concessions in quality of mechanically recycled rPET most likely have to be made. Now obviously there can be no concession in food contact safety, but there are other alternatives to ensure a steady supply of high quality rPET. But what factors diminish the quality of rPET in the first place? The major hurdles of high quality rPET One of the biggest hurdles when it comes to the visual quality of rPET has to do with its consistency. But what factors play a role in the lack of visual consistency of rPET? One of the biggest hurdles is the discolouration: after recycling, most of the time rPET experiences yellowing or other slight discolourations. Undesirable discolouration of rPET during reprocessing is predominantly caused by remaining trace amounts of components like functional additives, colourants, adhesives, inks and other plastics from caps, labels and sleeves. Multiple heat cycles combined with residual component traces result in a higher level of discolouration. Hence it is key to ensure adequate washing and decontamination of the input material before reprocessing. These are by themselves in many cases harmless and do not affect food contact safety but are undesirable due to their negative effect on colour. This aesthetic deviation has proven to be unattractive for end-consumers. This is quite understandable: drinking milk from a somewhat ‘yellowish’ transparent bottle feels strange for consumers who equate this colour with a lack of hygiene and find it unattractive.
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