Recycled PET (rPET) in Retail Packaging

Recycled PET (rPET) in Retail Packaging

February 6th 2007

For further information contact: Peter Skelton [email protected]

Agenda

• Jennie Price WRAP

• Paul Davidson WRAP

• Karel Wendl The Coca-Cola Company

• Edward Kosior Nextek

• Mark Caul M&S

• Peter Skelton WRAP

• John Simmons Recoup

WRAP

Jennie PriceCEO WRAP

WRAP: Waste & Resources Action Programme

• Private company, funded by DEFRA and the devolved administrations

• Set up in 2001 from Waste Strategy 2000

• 200 staff, 7 programmes

“Helping businesses and the public to reduce waste, to use more recycled material, and recycle more things more often”

Waste Minimisation, Recycling, Composting

Why an rPET conference?

• Dynamic picture

• High level consumer interest

• Demand

• Bringing together technical/ commercial/legislative expertise

Where we want to get to

• Shared understanding

• Clarity on business benefits

• Clarity on environmental benefits

• Link buyers with sellers

WRAP’s rPET work:

Technical: developed new patented PET recycling processes

Investment: Provided c£3m in reprocessing capacity, trials, projects etc

Intense engagement: with retailers, brands and consumers

Retail: ‘Green’ strategies

Strategic targets on:

• waste & packaging reduction - Courtauld Commitment

• specifying recycled content / renewable packaging

• recyclability

• labelling

Plan A

Because there is no Plan B

Suppliers: rising pressure

Seeking:

• Clarity on ‘Green’ materials

• To satisfy customer needs

• Competitive advantage

Recycled

Recyclability

Biodegradable

Lightweight

Carbon footprint

Consumer: engagement

• Recycling

• Kerbside collection

• On-pack messages

• Mass media

The answers are in the room

• Investors

• Reprocessors

• Material suppliers

• Packaging convertors

• Brand owners

• Retailers

• Trade Associations etc.

The UK PET Picture

Paul DavidsonPlastics Technology Manager - WRAP

Overview

• UK PET packaging consumption• UK bottle collection rates and trends• Accelerating collection growth• End destination for collected bottles• Potential rPET reprocessors• rPET availability• Environmental arguments for rPET• Exports• Other polymers?• Conclusions

UK PET Packaging Consumption

410Total

15Imported packaging

60Thermoformed packs

10Strapping

25Semi rigid sheet

300Bottles

Tonnage of PET (kt/a)Application

UK Plastic Bottle CollectionAssume 45% is PET

Assume 45% is PETWRAP is aiming for 200,000t/a by 2008

How Are We to Achieve 200,000t/a by 2008?

• Local authority campaign– Target Ten– Communications resources– Technical advice• Mass media campaign– UK’s first plastics recycling TV advert– Print and radio• Away from home collection work

Target Ten• New Plastics collection strategy for WRAP• Have concentrated on new schemes and scheme conversion• Now have 86% of UK authorities offering some sort of plastic

bottle collection• Current UK kerbside plastic bottle collection average is

5kg/hh/yr• Average UK household uses 20-25kg/yr• Want to get average to 10kg/hh/yr– Participation– Want All plastic bottles

Mass Media Campaign - Press• Transformational• “Give your plastic bottles the

chance to be something else”• Bottles are the heroes!• Emphasis on all bottles• Humorous, engaging

Mass Media Campaign - Press• Seasonal bottles• Still transformational• Bottles still the hero

Mass Media Campaign - TV

Want to get involved? [email protected]

Current UK bottle recycling flow

Reprocessing

Export 75%

UK 25%

Landfill or incineration

15%Polyester fibre, strapping,

packaging, other

Waste Management

PET packaging production

Product use & disposal

c85%

Virgin PET supply

Emerging PET packaging loop:UK reprocessing infrastructure

Reprocessing

Export

UK

Landfill or incineration

Food grade rPET material

Polyester fibre, strapping,

packaging, other

Waste Management

PET packaging production

Product use & disposal

Virgin PET supply

30%+

UK rPET: Packaging Demand v Material Supply

0

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

225

250

2005

2005

2006

2006

2007

2007

2008

2008

2009

2009

2010

2010

2011

2011

2012

2012

2013

2013

2014

2014

2015

2015

'000

tonn

es

Total mixed bottle collection Potential rPET output

Current UK rPET usage - locked in Current UK rPET usage - other

Current UK rPET demand Phase 2 projected UK rPET demand

Who is Going to Reprocess all this PET?

How Much Will Be Available?

• Highly fluid situation• Conservative estimate 50,000t/a by 2010• Growth in collection critical• Off take demand will strongly influence:– Ability to out compete export market– Development of reprocessing

infrastructure• rPET is also imported from continental

Europe

Why rPET? – The Environmental Case

• WRAP commissioned Technical University of Denmark (IPU) and the Danish Topic Centre on Waste

• Reviewed all recycling LCAs that have used ISO methodologies• Plastics• Paper/cardboard• Aluminium• Steel• Glass• Wood • Aggregates

LCA Selection

6224Aggregates

20931Steel

201119Aluminium

601042Plastics

639108Paper andcardboard

7329Wood

251119Glass

Number of scenarios identified

Number of studies used

Number of studies

evaluated

Material

Recycling vs Landfill

Recycling vs Incineration

LCA Conclusion

Recycling 1 tonne of Plastic bottles saves:

1.5 tonnes of CO2

(vs landfill or incineration)

If plastic is highly contaminated with fat/grease or low substitution ratio need to be careful IF UK develops significant incineration capacity

Exports

• Chinese demand has been very strong for plastic bottles over last 3 years

• High proportion of UK bottles currently exported

• Demonstrates UK is very open market– Bottles are available if price is right• PET bottle demand from China has

softened over last 6 months• rPET market removes the need to

export

Other Polymers?

• WRAP has developed a process for reprocessing HDPE back to food grade

• Currently undergoing extensive testing and trials• Should work for other polymers particularly PP• Would need collection infrastructure to be

developed

Conclusions

• Rapidly changing situation for rPET in UK• Collection• Reprocessing infrastructure• Demand

• Strong environmental imperative to use• Good LCA data

• Provides a new opportunity to the UK for an environmental and economic win

Thank [email protected]

Karel WendlPrinciple EngineerThe Coca-Cola Company, USA

Post-Consumer PET in Direct Food Contact Applications – Global Challenges and Commercial

ExperiencesWRAP Conference

London, UKFebruary 6, 2007

TopicsTopics

The Past: Establishment of guidelines/safetyThe Present: Availability of post consumer materialProcessing for non-food and food applicationsGlobal regulatory statusCommercial experiences using recycled PET in bottle-to-bottle applications

The PastThe Past

Historically, industry’s interests in food applications for Post consumer recycle plastics started in the late 1980’s In general, regulatory agencies had no

provisions to deal with this requestIn the United States, Industry and the FDA met to begin discussing acceptable approaches for the use of PCR Plastics in food applications

The PastThe Past

Traditional risk assessment is based on knowing the identity of potential contaminantsWith post consumer plastics, the dilemma was that the potential contaminants were unknown

The PastThe Past

FDA’s approach with industry input was to establish robust surrogate testing demonstrating surrogate removal below a level of concernFDA formally established their industry guidelines in May 1992

– Guidelines employed the concept of the “Threshold of Regulation”

The PastThe Past

The FDA guidelines established the key criteria for assessing the safety of particular technologies being considered

– Surrogate contaminants– Time duration of surrogate exposure– target end results for the tests

WHERE WE ARE ?WHERE WE ARE ?Numerous scientific investigations have been conducted and created an excellent database to establish the safety of PCRPET in food use applications:

Barrier layer inhibition of contaminant migrationEffects of contaminant removal via washingEffects of contaminant removal via extrusionEffects of contaminant removal via “super cleaning”Composition of the PCRPET feed streamAbsorbed Compounds in the PCRPET feed streamStatistical evaluation of the European PET feed stream establishing the basic absorbed compounds, their levels and the relative degree of incidental contamination

WHERE WE ARE ?WHERE WE ARE ?

ILSI Europe Packaging task force developed similar guidelines in 1998Many countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia have reviewed the science, and established their own guidelines\criteria for use of PCR PET in food applicationsEU regulation on recycling has been drafted based on two EU funded FAIR projects, and hopefully will be approved in 2007

The PresentAvailability of Material

1.74.7

9.1

15.7

24.6

33.1

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Mill

ion

tons

1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017

Citizen demand

WORLDPET Packaging Demand 1992-2017

0

10+MMt

USA Post Consumer PET Collection 1984-2005

0

100

200

300

400

500

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

Year

Met

ric T

onne

s X

000

45

456

0100200300400500

600700800900

10001100

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002* 2003 2004

Poun

ds (M

M)

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

Perc

ent (

%)

Amount Collected Recycling Percent

USA Collection Volumes 1995-2005

39.7%

21.6%

Post Consumer PET Bottle Recycling in Europe 2005


Volume collected in 2004 was 31.8% higher than in 2003!2005 was 19.8% higher than 2004!Incremental volumes from :

– Market growth – Collection / sorting

efficiency gains

Post consumer PET Bottle Collection Actual and Projected Volume (2006)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

000 Tonnes

AJN1072/ at

347448

612665 796

931

Source: PCI/PETCORE

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Fibres Sheet Strap BeverageBottles

Injection

Met

ric T

onne

s x

000

Post Consumer PET

Virgin PET

Source: PETCORE


76% 20%100% 4% 59%283

39

2109

9.280 75

Processing PCRPET* after Collection

Processing PCRPET* after Collection

* Post Consumer Recycled PET

Typical Process of PET Flake Washing Recycling Plant

Bailed PET Bottle

Debaler

First Grinder

Inspection Conveyor

Color Bottle Detector

PVC Separator(X-ray)

Vibrator

Flash Dryer

Final Grinder

Flake Washer

Hydro Cyclone

Aluminum Detector

Rinse Washer

Gravity Separator

Metal Detector

Clear Flake Packer

Pellet Packer

Flake Feeder

Pelletizer

Storage ShippingIV=0.76

Storage ShippingIV=0.73

PVC Bottle

Green/Blue PET Bottle

3 Operators/line

Size: 50mm

Size: 8mm

Caustic: 3%85 C - 20min.

PE,PP removal

Label Separator

Dryer

Label removal

Label removal

Al Cap, etc. removal

600 mesh

Recycled PET

Completing the Cycle

Post Consumer PET

Recycled PET


FiberApplications

Clothing

Post Consumer PET

Recycled PET


Bottles Food & non-Food Application

Post Consumer PETPreform

New Bottles

PROCESSING FOR FOOD APPLICATIONS :TECHNOLOGIES

PET RECYCLING OPTIONS

GRIND

WASH

DEPOLYMERIZE(BREAK DOWN INTOORIGINAL COMPONENTS)

REPOLYMERIZE(MAKE PET)

PETFLAKE

GRIND

WASHFLAKE

GRIND

WASH

PETFLAKE SUPER CLEANING

PET

1. DEPOLYMERIZATION

2. MULTILAYER

3. MONOLAYER

Recycled Layer

Virgin Layer

Virgin Layer

MONOLAYERMONOLAYER

GRIND

WASH

PETFLAKE

PROPRIETARY“SUPER

CLEANING”PROCESSES

MONOLAYERMONOLAYER

DECONTAMINATION PROCESSES– HEAT– VACUUM– SUPER CRITICAL FLUIDS– SURFACE AREA– SOLVENTS– SURFACE CHEMICAL TREATMENT

US FDA No Objection LettersUS FDA No Objection Letters

Polyethylene Terephthalate 55– Chemical Depolymerization 16– Multilayer 12– Physical Direct Contact 20

Polyethlyene Naphthalate 1High Density Polyethylene 9Polystyrene 13Source: US FDA web Site - http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov

US FDA PET Direct Contact Approvals


JCI Aug. 24,1994Wellman, Inc. Mar. 13, 1996Wellman, Inc. May. 2, 1996Wellman, Inc. Jun. 6, 1996Crown Cork & Seal Jan. 5, 1998Pure Tech Oct 2, 1998

Clean Tech Dec. 29, 1998OHL Apr. 13, 1999Phoenix Technologies Aug. 10, 1998Phoenix Technologies Aug. 10, 1998URRC Feb. 1, 2000



EREMA GmbH Nov. 17, 2000Phoenix Technologies* Apr. 20, 2001Visy Plastics Pty Ltd. June 1, 2001EREMA GmbH June 7, 2001Buhler AG June 13, 2001Wellman, Inc. Jan. 28, 2003EREMA GmbH Feb. 10, 2003AMCOR Feb. 10, 2003OHL Mar. 17, 2003

PET Rebirth (AIES) Tokyo, Japan

Food Grade Post Consumer PET Recycling PlantFrauenfeld, Switzerland

Food Grade Post Consumer PET Recycling PlantSydney, Australia

Food Grade Post Consumer PET Recycling PlantToluca, Mexico

THE CONSUMER’S OPINIONTHE CONSUMER’S OPINION

European Surveys1:– 77% of consumers responded favorably to bottles

labeled as containing 25% recycle content

USA Survey:– 87% of consumers think its good for beverage

companies to use recycled content in plastic bottles

Japan Survey:– 90% of consumers either preferred or said it did not

matter if the bottle had recycled content

Note 1. Countries surveyed: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK

Geographic Comparisons of PET Feed Streams

Unprocessed

Processed

Limonene

Purge & Trap GC/MS

Challenging p-c PET feedstock - India

Challenging p-c PET feedstock - Mexico

INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING PACKAGING STATUS

METHANOLYSIS USA / EU / Japan / Canada

GLYCOLYSIS USA / Australia / Canada

MULTILAYER USA / Australia / Austria / SwedenU K / Argentina / Switzerland / Brazil Belgium / NZ / Japan / Chile / BoliviaCanada / France / Finland / Norway

MONOLAYER USA / Belgium / Netherlands / Canada/ France / Australia / Finland

17 Sweden / N Z / Switzerland / Germany / Norway / Mexico / Austria/Hungary/Slovakia/Czech Rep.

17

WORLDWIDE STATUS– RECYCLED PLASTICS HAVE BEEN SAFELY

USED SINCE 1991 IN DIRECT FOOD CONTACT APPLICATIONS

Our Coca-Cola System has been using various PET Bottle-to-Bottle recycling technologies, since 1991: Multilayer, Depolymerization, Monolayer:– IN 13 COUNTRIES OVER 16 YEARS, WITH STRICT

REQUIREMENTS SINCE THE START! => NO MARKET QUALITY ISSUES!


In our bottles, we use Monolayer B-2-B URRC- type chip/flake in 9 European countries and 11 countries world-wide9 Preform converters, and in excess of 15 bottle blowers process such chip/flake, since 2001 in some casesRecycle PET percentages in bottles vary depending on local conditions/demandsOur QA requirements are no different than for Virgin PET bottles.


Production - 52 weeks per year to produce BM of bottles for our use, since 1991Converters need to have right equipment set-up and optimized process settings for such application! (some changes compared to Virgin PET pellet )

Willingness and drive to make it work commercially is essential!


Food Grade Recycled PETTechnical Issues

Professor Edward KosiorManaging Director, Nextek Limited

February 6th 2007 London UK

Closing the Loop on rPETfrom waste to food contact

Food Grade Recycled PET: Technical Issues

• Introduction to Nextek Limited

• Food safety of Recycling processes .

• rPET recycling technology for making food contact packaging from waste

•Quality issues – Contamination, Colour, Impurities

•rPET issues, Sheet, bottle, water, CPET

•Future challenges for (recycled) plastics packaging

Nextek Limited – Creating Sustainable Solutions in Polymers and Recycling

RPET BackgroundProfessor/Director RMIT Polymer Tech. Centre- Rapidsort NIR detector- RofinR&D Manager Visy Industries.Establishment of mixed bottle plant to FDA rPET processRevision of Sydney Coca Cola Plant – Phoenix processMarket development bottle, fibre, sheet and moulding applications

RECENT UK ProjectsDevelopment of PET recycling plant for Closed Loop LondonDevelopment of a new FDA Food Grade PET Recycling ProcessDemonstration of Viability of rPET in Retail Packaging: CLL, M&S and BootsBeverage Packaging Waste Reduction: Light weighting PET bottles, EsterformUsing Post-Consumer Tyres in a Range of New Applications: Pipe Sealing System Development of Light Weight Compostable Packaging- SainsburysDemonstration trial of Recycled HDPE into Milk Bottles- WRAP

Three Approaches to Food Grade Recycling for PET

•Chemical or Feedstock recyclingUSFDA approval without the need for a challenge testCan handle colours and contamination and use 50% inputShould be integrated with virgin PET PlantGlycolysis is favoured

•Multilayer processing (ABA sandwich)Requires a virgin layer in the final application in contact with food.

At least 25 micron layer at room temp and below,At least 50 micron layers for temp above room temp,

Can be used with Sheet and bottles at high levels eg 60%

•Superclean or Physical RecyclingRequires proof of meeting the “Challenge Test” criteriaFlake or pellet needs high temperature decontamination and IV adjustment

Chemical or Feedstock Recycling

Chemical RecyclingBreakdown of PET into Basic building blocks, purifying and re- polymerising back to Virgin PET

3 key Chemical methods

MethanolysisGlycolysisHydrolysis

Chemical or Feedstock Recycling

Methanolysis• Depolymerised to produce dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) and ethylene

glycol (EG) at around 200ºC. • The DMT is purified to produce new PET.Glycolysis• PET depolymerised to give bishydroxyethylterephthalate (BHET) and

purified by melt filtration and with carbon to remove colour and chemical impurities.

• Recent recipients of FDA letters of non-object include:– Hoechst Celanese (1995) Wellman Inc. (1996) Innovations in PET Pty

Ltd. (1996) The Eastman Chemical Co. (1997 / 2000) Teijin, NanYa , and AIES (2001) Roychem, OHL and Mitsubishi (2003) Zimmer (2006)

Hydrolysis• PET hydrolysed by treatment with water, acids or caustic soda to give

terephthalic acid (TA) and ethylene glycol (EG), which may be repolymerised following purification.

• PET hydrolysis is less well commercially established than glycolysis or methanolysis.

• RecoPET / Technochim Engineering in France has a caustic hydrolysis process.

Multi-Layer processing

Requires a virgin layer in the final application in contact with food.At least 25 micron layer for T≤ room tempAt least 50 micron layers for T ≥ room tempPET preforms/Bottles require tooling with Co-injection capability ( Owens Illlinois , Hofstetter, Kortec)Sheet and thermoformed products require 3 layer tooling and sufficiently thick virgin layer to ensure that at least 25 microns remains at the thinnest section

38% rPET in multilayer

10/80/10 Virgin/rPET/Virgin 30/40/30 Virgin/rPET/Virgin

Food Contact MaterialsAll food contact materials:Manufactured according to good manufacturing practiceNot allow constituents to migrate into food in quantities:

harmful to human healthaffect nature/quality of the food -(including taste and smell)

Current regulationsEuropean Commission Directive 2002/72/EC & five amendments. The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) Regulations 2006.

Overall migration limit of 60 ppm into foodSpecific Migration limits for individual substancesCompliance declarations Migration test methods

US FDA regulationsThreshold of Regulation- USA

Plastics for food contact are always evaluated for any migration that might occur when in contact with food material.migrating substances are considered to be food additives. “Threshold of Regulation” -a level below which the probable exposure to a potentially toxic substance is a negligible risk (defined as 0.5ppb in daily diet)

US FDA Validation of Recycling ProcessesAny recycling process must demonstrate its ability to remove potential contaminants due to consumer misuse.A series of representative chemicals or their surrogates are used to spike PET flake in a “Challenge Test”.100% of flake is contaminated for 2 weeks at 40 deg C. (Flake absorb up to 10 times more contaminants than bottles)Mathematical migration modeling is now accepted instead of some testing and approvals.

USFDA “Challenge Test” for Recycling Processes

•“Challenge Test” procedure validation as being capable of removing severe contamination from bottles to below the “level of regulation”

•Provides assurance that much lower levels of contamination in collected bottles will be removed to negligible risk levels.

•From February 1990 to July 2005, 69 “letters of non-objection” have been issued17 chemical processes and 52 physical recycling processes for rPET

•Chemical recycling no longer requires FDA accreditation..

Chemicals and Surrogates

Organo metallicCopper OctoateDisodium Arsenate

Non-polar VolatileTolueneGasoline

Non-polar, Non- VolatilePhenyldecaneLindane

Polar, Non-volatileBenzophenoneDiazinon

Polar, VolatileTrichloroethaneChloroform

CategorySurrogateChemical

Safety factors in USFDA Protocol

Threshold of regulation - 1000 to 500,000Use of 100% contamination in test -10,000Over concentration of surrogates -10Consumption factor >10Food distribution factor(% recycle) >2

Total Safety Factors1000x 10,000 x 10 x 10 x 2 = >2x 10 9

ie >2 billion times safety factor

Decontamination results (new WRAP rPET process)

Limiting levels based on

migration into oil

ppmChloroform 592±77 300±24 <0.1 15

Toluene 736±163 237±32 0.2±0.01 16.6

Chlorobenzene 649±83 225±26 0.4±0.03 16.7

Phenylcyclohexane 795±186 507±104 0.6±0.45 21

Benzophenone 694±180 419±88 1.2±0.99 23.4

Surrogate Chemical Flake Initial ppm

Flake After wash ppm

Flake After High Temp

Decontamination ppm

Decontamination results

Input Flake

Washed Flake

Decontaminated Flake

Rt = 1.8 min, AcetaldehydeRt = 2.5 min, 2-methyl-1,3-dioxolaneRt = 2.9 min, ethylene glycol

limonene (Rt = 8.1 min)

Conversion to bottles

100% Challenge test pellets 30% recycled content

Conversion to sheet and formed products

Virgin PET 50% rPET

UK PET into Food Grade

Initial Steps in recycling PETAll processes will require some common preparation prior to the actual recycling step:•1.Debaling of the compressed bottles.•2. Sorting of the bottles by people or auto-sorting (NIR) or both•3A. Pre-cleaning of the bottles or •3B. Shredding of the bottles followed by “Dry Cleaning”•4. Grinding to 12 mm flake•5. Hot washing of the flake•6. Removal of labels and caps - usually by floatation and air elutriation•7. De-dusting to remove PET fines as well as fine contaminants.•8. Sorting of flake to remove coloured and non PET contaminants ( Visible and laser systems)

Impurities in PET bales

Contaminants- What's in a bale

Waste Level(kg) (%)

Input 8,484Moisture 509 6.00%Iron wires 127 1.50%Labels 681 8.00%Manual sorting 1,054 12.40%Metal separator 93 1.10%Dust 213 2.50%Coloured particles 57 0.70%Caps 266 3.10%Waste in waste water 92 1.10%Total waste 36.40%PET flakes 5,392 63.60%

Dry Contamination LevelPET bottles Blue bottles 52.40%

green bottles 7.20%Orange bottles 3.80%Yellow bottles 1.00%Black bottles 0.50%Purple bottles 0.40%

Others Energy drinks 13.70%Non food 9.30%

PVC 8.10%HDPE 1.80%

Cardboard 0.50%Aluminium foil 0.30%

Tin cover 0.30%Traces, boxes 0.40%Polystyrene 0.20%

TransmissionReflectionSorters

NRTMikrosort

MSSRofin RTTS+S

Satake Titech

UnisensorPage: 09

Sorting Bottles and Flakes withVisible and Near Infra Red (NIR)

RTT UniSort PX1 Unit = 3 Fractions

RTT Uni-sort NIR– PX Technology

SensorAufgabe

Doppelaustrag

UNISORT® PXEin Gerät drei Fraktionen

PETHDPE

Sec

tion

1S

ectio

n2

Sec

tion

3

positiveAustrag

UNISORT® Section 3Ein Sensor drei unterschiedliche Sortiersektoren

PET

HDPE

Reste

RTT UniSort PX – Section Kombination

Durchlauffraktion / Reste

Sensor

PX – Section 3 Kombination ersetzt 5 Standard Sortiermodule

Materialrückführung um die Ausbringung zu maximieren

durch RTT geschützt beim deutschen Patentamt Nr.: DBGM 203 10 406.4

New Flexibility in operation -Sectioned sorters

Firma Brantner, Österreich, IBS Juni 2004

Layout and efficiency of Bottle Sorting Brantner Austria

Sorting Flakes with Light

1. Separation of flakes into a planar stream

2. Capturing visible of spectral data from light source reflected or transmitted

3. Visible light, NIR and laser are in use for flake sorting

4. Analysis of data5. Operation of ejectors in

synchronisation with flake velocity

6. Recycling of reject stream to increase recovery rate.

Flake detection for separation

Sorting of Problem Materials

Flake sorting efficiency

Superclean or Physical Recycling

Main Processes• involve the removal of volatile contaminants and delivering

rPET with IV of 0.75-0.82 dl g-1.

SupercycleTM PET (Amcor)Bühler Process (Amcor)United Resource Recovery Corporation (URRC)Phoenix (PTI)Vacurema (Erema Plastic Recycling Systems)Recostar IV Plus (Starlinger)Ecoclear (Wellman)Stehning (OHL)

RPET mechanical recycling processes

DEBALE

DRY CLEAN

GRIND

METALREMOVAL

SORTBOTTLES

INFEED

DRY/AIRCLASSIFICATION

SINK-FLOAT in water

HOT WASH

METALREMOVAL

SORTFLAKE

DECONTAMINATION

SORTFLAKE

EXTRUDE TO PELLET

END USECUSTOMERS

Ecoclear (Wellman)EcoclearTM is manufactured by Wellman using a proprietary process based upon automated sorting and chemical / thermal cleaning of food grade bottles from collection systems.

EcoclearTM recycled content PET resin (25% RPET:75% virgin PET) for beverage containers and sheet is produced at Wellman’s 50,000 tonne / year Emmen site in Holland.

Vacurema (Erema)The Erema TE-VSV (VacuRema) process converts clean dry bottle flake to crystallised food grade pellets and can also produce a melt for direct extrusion to a finished product .

The VacuRema system has approval from Pepsi USA and in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, with food contact approval applied for in Canada, Hungary and Brazil.

Newer versions of the VacuRema use 3 vacuum reators for further control over the IV.

The VacuRema process can increase viscosity up to virgin material levels e.g. typically to 0.77 to 0.84 dlg-1

EREMA Multi KT Vacurema System

Recostar IV Plus (Starlinger)

The Starlinger recycling system starts with washed PET flake which is extruded and melt filtered by an integrated unit that preheats the flake before feeding it into the extruder.

The pelletised resin then is fed to a modular crystalliser and vertical vacuum solid stating unit that allows the pellet to be decontaminated, reduced in Acetaldehyde levels and increased in IV up to virgin levels .

The solid stating unit is built in modules of 200kgs per hour or 1 tonne per hour.

Multiple units could each operate at different residence time to suit different markets eg water bottle and CSD simultaneously.

Stehning (OHL)

The OHL Stehning bottle to bottle process consists of the following main stages:

Washing and grinding: hot water/steam pre-wash, automatic sort system, wet grinding and several intensive washing operations before flash drying. The flakes then enter a further grinding stage for final size reduction.

The dry flake feed is fed to modified extrusion system (vented multi screw extruder) where volatiles are partially eliminated contaminants are melt filtered before regranulation.

Solid State polycondensation (SSP) in a batch reactor (vacuum rotary dryer) eliminates volatile by-products such as glycol, acetaldehyde and oligomers, raises the IV. from (~0.70 dlg-1 to ~0.82 dlg-1) and converts the amorphous PET to crystalline PET.

Rotary Vacuum Reactor OHL

Phoenix Technologies (PTI)

The process begins with controlled washed flake.

The flake is ground to an average of 2 mm.

This flake is then placed into a vacuum solid stating device fordecontamination and IV building to levels of 0.86 to 0.88

The principle behind the process is that the smaller flake size allows an exponentially faster decontamination of the PET flakes

Solid stating takes between 8 to 10 hours per cycle with a critical condition of 4 hours at or over 200 ºC

The flakes are then extruded in a single screw extruder after passing through a drier. The resultant pellets have an IV of 0.76 to 0.78.

Phoenix is currently working on a new (small particle) process that eliminates the use of vacuum vessels for decontamination promising further cost efficiencies.

Bühler Process – AMCOR

The key process stages are: sorting, hot washing decontamination, filtration, granulation, drying, crystallisation and solid state polycondensation. The technology involves the Bühler Ring Extruder and continuous Solid State Polycondensation (SSP) processes.The first Bühler line was installed by Amcor in Beaune, France in 2001.

The plant has an annual output capacity of 20,000 tonnes per year.

United Resource Recovery Corporation (URRC)

PET bottles which are separated out and ground into flakes.PET flakes are separated from labels, closures, and foreign matter using conventional, dry and wet-operation separating techniques as well as hot washing technology.

In the second stage of the process, the surface of the flakes are coated with caustic compounds. A rotary tubular kiln is heated to 200 ºC with residence time of 5 hrs to decontaminate any residual substances and odours.

In the third stage, the cleaned PET is sieved and rinsed free of the salt formed and coloured impurities are removed with colour sorting.

The process can cope with highly contaminated PET as well as making a final product in flake form that can be used directly or extruded before use. The final IV is in the range 0.76 to 0.78Plants are currently in use in Europe in Switzerland,

Fraunfeld), and Germany, (Cleanaway, in Rostock), and in Mexico .

Issues with rPET

•Food Safety, Contamination, Impurities•Level of substitution and Colour•Use of multi-layer in sheet•Consistency and Physical properties•Future Challenges

Food Safety, Contamination, Impurities•rPET made by processes that have passed the “challenge test” will be as food safe as virgin resin•Certification from PIRA, Fraunhofer and FDA is available for these processes eg Letter of Non Objection•Extensive tests have validated that no harmful contaminants, spores or bacterial residues will be present in rPET made by approved processes from post consumer PET bottles.•Any discolouration visible is mainly due to the oxidation of the rPET during the high temperature decontamination and/or extrusion•Excessive heating can decompose virgin PET •rPET is fully compatible with virgin PET

Virgin PET – over heated and degraded

Level of substitution and Colour•PET progressively changes to a yellow green colour as it is recycled•Too high temperatures during decontamination and extrusion can make it worse•Recycling at high substitution levels can mean higher initial colour and faster change in properties after recycling.•For critical colour and strength applications eg CSD , 30% is a high level•For less critical applications such as thin sheet eg <400 um, 50% is possible•Running at 100% recyling rate will quickly cause a change in colour and melt behaviour.

Number of cycles

10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%1 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% 90.00% 100.00%2 1.00% 4.00% 9.00% 16.00% 25.00% 36.00% 49.00% 64.00% 81.00% 100.00%3 0.10% 0.80% 2.70% 6.40% 12.50% 21.60% 34.30% 51.20% 72.90% 100.00%4 0.01% 0.16% 0.81% 2.56% 6.25% 12.96% 24.01% 40.96% 65.61% 100.00%5 0.00% 0.03% 0.24% 1.02% 3.13% 7.78% 16.81% 32.77% 59.05% 100.00%6 0.00% 0.01% 0.07% 0.41% 1.56% 4.67% 11.76% 26.21% 53.14% 100.00%7 0.00% 0.00% 0.02% 0.16% 0.78% 2.80% 8.24% 20.97% 47.83% 100.00%8 0.00% 0.00% 0.01% 0.07% 0.39% 1.68% 5.76% 16.78% 43.05% 100.00%9 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.03% 0.20% 1.01% 4.04% 13.42% 38.74% 100.00%

10 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.01% 0.10% 0.60% 2.82% 10.74% 34.87% 100.00%

Proportion of original material present after a given number of cycles% Recycled rate

Use of multi-layer structures•Use of Food Grade rPET in the mid layer is completely safe

•For non food grade into mid layer of sheet and bottles - need to ensure that the final thickness of the virgin layer is > 25 micron at the thinnest point of the formed article

•The control of regrind of bottles and trim from formed parts is critical. Poor control can lead to non food grade inadvertently being used in the outer layer due to accidental selection.

Consistency and Physical propertiesrPET is a result of blends of many PET resin sources all approximately of the same IV ie CSD = 0.80 to 0.82 and Water = 0.76 dl/g•Hence the consistency depends on

– The source of the bottles and any contaminants present/left in /added– Quality of the sorting of bottles– Level of removal of coloured (blue) and pigmented (white and black) bottles,

PVC (labels and bottles), Glues, closures with silicone rubber,– Quality of the wash – Quality of the decontamination– Quality of the extrusion and melt filtration to remove particles> 100 micron– Use of flake avoids a high temperature cycle better IV and colour– The use of any final IV building and decontamination via solid stating

(lowering of Acetaldehyde for use in water bottles)

Overall the use of well sorted PET (>99% PET bottles) can give an excellent result in many recycling processes as the technology for recycling PET is now highly reliable and much advaned on the technology of 10 years ago.

Future Challenges for rPET in UK

•Secure long term supplies of locally generated bottles at competitive costs – to establish a locally viable recycling infrastructure•Develop widely agreed standards for baled PET bottles •Standards for the use of recycled plastics for food contact•Develop more efficient sorting technologies to eliminate currentand future problems such as – PLA and PETG bottles in the PET stream– PVC, PS, PET shrink sleeves that sink with PET flake– Handling of lighter weight and smaller PET packages and bottles– Bio plastics emerging as food trays with density >1 g/cm3

– CPET which currently has a limited opportunity to be recycled

Summary of technical issues

Extensive developments in technology have continued to make PET recycling increasingly •More reliable Technically •More reliable in Quality and consistency•Competitve economically with virgin dependant on bottle feedstock prices

rPET represents a major opportunity to make packaging that truly “Closes the Loop” and improves the carbon footprint of food and beverage PET packaging

Food Contact Materials Legislation

Richard SinclairHead of Unit (Policy and Legislation)

Introduction

Governing principleThe legislationIts main provisionsFuture Recycling RegulationWhenQuestions

Governing PrincipleAll food contact materials:• Manufactured according to good manufacturing practice

• Not allow constituents to migrate into food in quantities:

- harmful to human healthaffect nature/quality of food

The Legislation

European Commission Directive 2002/72/EC & four amendments plus 1 other on vinyl chloride monomer and two on migration test methods

The Plastic Materials and Articles in Contact with Food (England) (No.2) Regulations 2006

Main Provisions• OML 60 mg/kg food

• SML’s for individual substances

• Offences and defences

• Penalties

• Compliance declarations

• Migration test methods

Future EU Recycling Regulation (1)

• mechanical recycling processes

• authorised processes

• authorisation process - opinion in 6 months

• authorisation for 5 years

• audit from 3 months after production begins

Future EU Recycling Regulation (2)

• documented QA system

• detailed compliance declaration

• product compliant with virgin plastic rules

• recyclate Article 3 compliant

• small, non-harmful amounts of residue

When?• current proposal began in October 2003

• talks stalled late 2005

• resuming in 2007

• likely adoption late 2007/early 2008

• law by mid-2008 (?)

Any Questions?

Thank you

Recycled PET (rPET) in Retail Packaging

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