MATERIALS / RECYCLING PETplanet Insider Vol. 25 No. 07+08/24 www.petpla.net 14 The CircuTray-UP project PET tray packaging recycling Although PET packaging is produced in large quantities and is one of the most common types of modified atmosphere packaging, it is rarely if ever recycled. Despite the established state of the art in sorting non-bottled PET packaging, the most common processing route for such packaging ends in incineration. The CircuTray-UP project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Plastics Recycling Technologies (KuRT) initiative, aims to close the loop for PET trays by establishing a value chain from innovative recycling strategies to the production of rPET-based tray packaging. RECYCLING The field of packaging structures encompasses a wide range of plastics, with PET being one of the most commonly used plastics for flexible food packaging after polyolefins such as PE. PET tray packaging with a production volume of 1,070 kt/a including PET film in the EU27+3 in 2022 [PET Market in Europe. State of Play. Production, collection & recycling data 2022], is used both for simple items such as fruit and vegetables and for more challenging items such as meat and cheese, which require modified atmosphere packaging. While only single-layer structures are required for low-value items, high-value items in modified atmosphere packaging usually require a multi-layer structure containing PE, EVOH, PA and adhesives. Such a conglomerate of plastics poses a problem for conventional mechanical recycling, as different processing conditions are required and the polymers do not dissolve into each other. While multi-layer structures are an obvious problem for mechanical recycling, single-layer PET is a problem in itself. The mechanical and thermal properties of PET used for trays, such as different melt viscosities, melting temperatures and intrinsic viscosities, differ significantly from bottle PET, resulting in limited compatibility with the well-established bottle PET recycling. In Germany, PET-based plastics are collected by the Dual Systems Germany (DSD) and sorted accordingly into waste fractions of non-food PET bottles and trays with different compositions and a majority tray fraction containing both single and multilayer structures. While the mixed PET fractions are partially recycled and mainly used in low-value applications, the majority tray fraction often ends up in plants for energy recovery. Pressure from legislator According to the latest revision of the European Plastic Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), touchsensitive packaging with PET as the main polymer, including food contact packaging, must contain at least 30 per cent recycled material by weight in 2030 and at least 50 per cent by weight in 2040. In addition, at least 70% of the packaging must be recyclable. None of the proposed minimum values can currently be achieved on an industrial scale. As the PPWR is on its way into legislation, a solution to this waste problem must be found soon, otherwise this type of packaging will have to be replaced by more recyclable packaging. Several market players have already partially addressed the problem, but not sufficiently solved it. Some have tried to take the delamination route (Repetco Spain, Linpac Packaging Ltd), others have addressed the issue of adhesives (BASF), while others have chosen the mechanical recycling route for monolayer structures only (Klöckner Pentaplast). In 2022, the recycling capacity for PET trays was 57kt/a, with the Netherlands, Spain and France contributing the most. [PET market in Europe. State of Play. Data on production, collection and recycling 2022] Advancing the recyclability one step at a time The CircuTray-UP project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the Plastics Recycling Technology Initiative (KuRT), addresses the entire value chain by looking at sorting, waste processing, advanced recycling processes, film processing and packaging production in order to close the loop for PET trays. The strategic partners of the project committee, led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising, are ZWS Recycling GmbH, Unisensor Sensorsysteme GmbH, Lömi GmbH, Reifenhäuser GmbH & Co. KG, Silverplastics GmbH and Öko-Institut e.V. Fig. 1: Flow chart for PET tray recycling loop
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