Dordan Manufacturing's Blog

The post of all posts!

Written by Chandler Slavin | Oct 16, 2012 4:06:00 PM
Happy Friday! This Saturday is my sister’s bachelorette party at Cuvee in Chicago, which is a super posh champagne lounge. I will let you know if I see any celebrities!

So I FINALLY finished my work on PET recycling for a Canadian retailer, which is good, as I leave on Tuesday!

Check it out! It’s sort of a lot, and it’s really detailed, so sorry if I bore you! Oh, and it’s broken into a couple different sections:
    1. Summary of a super huge document titled, “Best Practices and Industry Standards in PET Recycling.”
    2. Supply and demand of PET bottles post consumer, North American context.
    3. Supply and demand of PET thermoforms post consumer, North American context.
    4. Interview with StewardEdge and Stewardship Ontario’s Plastics Market Developer.
    5. Case studies of PET recycling, bottle to bottle, bottle to thermo, and thermo to bottle.
Seriously, this is the post of all posts! And when I copied and pasted my report into the Blog software, it messed up my outline--sorry!

Chandler Slavin, Dordan Mfg.

Summary of “Best Practices and Industry Standards in PET Plastic Recycling”

  • PET recycling, history, American context:
  • St. Jude, 1976—recycled PET bottles into plastic strapping and paint brush bristles
  • St. Jude, 1997—first to repelletize PCR PET plastic, which is important for PET remanufacturing companies.
  • Wellman, Inc., 1978— began recycling PET bottles into a fiber product that was suitable for both carpet and fiber applications.
  • Wellman continued to increase its use of recycled PET and throughout the 1980s and early 1990s increased their processing capacity and consequentially the market demand for post-consumer PET.
  • 1993—first textile fiber manufactured from 100% RPET.
  • Today, St. Jude and Wellman are joined by a dozen other companies, whose combined PET recycling processing capacity produces over billion pounds of recycled PET resin annually.
  • With advances in PET recycling technology, it is now possible to ‘close the loop’ by recycling bottles back into bottles, even in some food-contact packaging.
  • There are three generic types of food-contact packaging applications/processes for which the use of PCR PET has been issued letters of non-objection (from the FDA, certifying applicability for direct-food content).
  • Depolymerization processes that chemically break down PET plastic into its component chemicals, which are then repolymerized and made into new PET food contact packages;
  • Multi-layer or laminated food-contact containers where PCR PET is combined with a virgin PET layer;
  • And, full-contact food packaging containers where 100% PCR PET is used.
  • Food-contact packaging applications are one of the largest uses of PET plastic resin in the United States. The ability to recycle these food-contact packages back into new PET food-contact packages will help ensure the long-term viability of PET plastic recycling and the ability to avoid the use of virgin PET in food contact packaging manufacturing.
  • How PET bottles get recycled, American context:
  • Collection:Returnable Container Legislation or Bottle Bills, which establish redemption value on non-alcoholic beverage containers. These containers, when returned by the consumer for the redemption value, facilitate recycling by aggregating large quantities of recyclable materials at beverage retailers and wholesalers to be collected by recyclers, while providing the consumer with an economic incentive to return the PET bottles and containers. Currently, 10 States have enacted some form of this legislation.
  • Curb-side collection: Generally the most convenient for community residents to participate in and yield high recovery rates as a result.
  • Communities that provide curb-side recycling generally request residents to separate the designated recyclables from their household garbage and place them into special recepticles, which are then set at curb for collection by municipal or municipal-contracted crews.
  • Some communities allow their residents to comingle recyclables, that is, mix recyclable materials of different kinds into the same receptacle.
  • Others require some level of material segregation, known as “source separation.”
  • Some curbside recycling collection programs use compaction vehicles to collect designated recyclables. While this will yield greater amounts of material on a collection route than collecting materials loose and placing them in non-compaction vehicles, there is a greater possibility of introducing contaminants to the PET recycling process.
  • Drop-off recycling: Containers for designated recyclable materials are placed at central collections locations throughout the community, such as parking lots, churches, schools, etc. Residents are requested to deliver their recyclables to the drop-off location, where recyclables are separated my material type into their respective collection containers. Drop-off centers require much less investment to establish he curbside program, yet do not offer the convenience of curbside collection.
  • Buy-back centers: Most buy-back centers are operated by private companies; however, communities provide incentives through legislation or grants and loan programs that can assist in the establishment of buy-back centers for their residents. Buy-back centers pay consumers for recyclable materials that are brought to them. Most have purchasing specifications that require consumers to source separate recyclable material brought for sale. These specs reduce contamination and allow the buy-back center to immediately begin processing the recyclables they purchase, while providing consumers with an economic incentive to comply with the specs.
  • How PET bottles are sorted and prepared for sale:
  • After collection, each subsequent step in the recycling process adds value to the PC PET and puts it into marketable form for other processors and end users that will use them to manufacture new products.
  • The amount and type of sorting and processing required will depend upon purchaser specifications and the extent to which consumers separate recyclable materials of different types and remove contaminates.
  • Collected PET bottles are delivered to a MRF or a plastic intermediate processing facility (IPC) to begin the recycling process. The value of the PC PET and its ability to be economically manufactured into new products is dependent on the QUALITY of the material as it passes through the recycling process.
  • MRFS accept commingled curbside collected recyclables and separate them into their respective material categories. PET bottles are separated from other recyclables and baled for sale to IPC, plastic recycling facilities, or reclaimers. There are two types of sorting systems used at plastics recycling facilities:
  • Manual sorting systems= rely on plant personnel who visibly identify and physically sort plastic bottles traveling over a conveyor belt system.
  • Studies indicate that trained inspectors are capable of sorting 500 to 600 pounds of PET per hour and are more than 80% effective at identifying and removing PVC from the line.
  • The use of ultraviolet light helps manual sorting systems remove PVC (yellow or green when exposed to UV) from PET (blue when exposed to UV).
  • Manual sorting systems are generally one of two types—positive or negative sort systems.
  • Positive= PET bottles are removed from a stream of plastic containers being carried over a conveyor system.
  • When PET bottles are removed in a positive sort, there are either fed directly into a granulator or onto a second conveyor system that feeds into a granulator
  • Positive sort systems are considered best in generating highest quality materials.
  • However, they may not always result in the most efficient system as positive sorts are generally more time consuming than negative sorts.
  • Negative= PET bottles are left on the conveyor system and unwanted materials are removed from the conveyor line.
  • Negative sort systems work well if materials have been “presorted” into specific categories.
  • The choice between positive and negative sort systems will depend on program budget and the supply characteristics of the incoming material.
  • Automated sorting systems= employ a detection, or combination of collection systems, that analyze one or more properties of the plastic bottles passing through and automatically sorts these plastic into several categories, either by resin type, color, or both.
  • Auto-sort systems are increasingly used at the intermediate processing level and even more extensively by reclaimers and end-users to obtain contaminant free streams of PET bottles for subsequent processing.
  • Most auto-sort technologies employ some type of detection signal that can differentiate plastic bottles based on chemical or physical characteristics when that signal is detected and analyzed by a sensor.
  • There are three different types of detection systems:
  • Optical sorting systems= use visible light to separate plastic bottles by color. This is called near infrared (NIR).
  • NIR detection signals pass completely through the scanned plastic bottle and can detect bottles that are shielded by other bottles when passing over the sensor.
  • An advantage to NIR is their ability to detect multi-layer and composite container structures. Some of these pose contamination problems in the PET recycling process and are difficult to identify.
  • NIR signals can scatter inside flattened bottles, which prevents the signal from being read by the sensor, causing the container to be ejected.
  • Transmission technologies= a signal passes directly through the bottle and is read by a sensor on the other side of the bottle; each plastic resin has a characteristic response to the signal based on its unique chemical composition. This is called X-ray transmission (XRT).
  • Ignores labels and other surface contaminants that can lead to false readings with other detection systems.
  • Also can read the chemical content of bottles when stuck together when bales are packed too densely.
  • Drawback= flattened bottles can scatter the detection beam, which prevents the sensor from getting a reading on the other side.
  • Surface scanning devices= the signals bounce off the surface of the bottle and are reflected back to the sensor for identification; each plastic resin has its own response. When a sensor detects what it is looking for, it will generally activate an air jet that will eject or direct the item it has positively identified. This is called X-ray fluorescence (XRF).
  • Limitation= all surface scanning technologies will not detect a PVC bottle that is shielded from the signal by another bottle; therefore, it will not detect a PVC bottle that is stick to a PET bottle as it passes over the sensor.
  • Also, surface scanning signals might be affected by surface contaminates like labels and caps and make cause PET bottles to be incorrectly ejected.
  • The current state-of-the-art in auto-sort technology combines several types of sensors to provide multiple sorting functions for streams of commingled plastic resin types.
  • PET bottles are sorted from other plastic containers at PRFs and, in most cases, further processed by color and sorting and granulating PET for shipment to reclaimers as “dirty” regrind.
  • Dirty regrind from PRFs is then sent to reclaimers that process PC PET plastic into a form that can be used by converters.
  • Converters process the recycled PET into a commodity-grade form that can be used by end-users to manufacture new products.
  • At a reclaiming facility, the dirty flake passes through a series of sorting and cleaning stages to separate PET from other materials that may be contained on the bottle or from other contaminants that may be present.
  • First, regrind material is passed through an “air classifier,” which removes materials lighter than PET such as plastic or paper labels and “fines” –very small PET particle fragments that are produced during granulating.
  • The flakes are then washed with a special detergent in a “scrubber.” This step removes food residue that might remain on the inside surface of the PET bottles, glue that is used to adhere labels to the PET bottles, and any dirt.
  • Next, the flakes pass through what is known as a “float/sink” classifier. During this process, PET flakes, which are heavier than water, sink in the classifier, while base cups made from HDPE and caps and rings made from PP, both of which are lighter than water, float to the top.
  • The ability of the float/sink stage to yield pure PET flake is dependent upon the absence of any other plastic that might also be heavier than water and sink with PET.
  • After they are dried, the PET flakes pass through what is known as an electrostatic separator, which produces a magnetic field to separate PET flake from any aluminum that may be present.
  • Some reclaimers use x-ray separation devices for PVC removal, or optical sorting devices to remove other contaminants.
  • The purity level to which PET flakes are processed depends on the end-use application for which they are intended.
  • Once these processing steps have been completed, the PET plastic is now in a form known as “clean flake.” In some cases, reclaimers will further process the clean flake in a “repelletizing stage,” which turns the flake to pellet.
  • Clean flake/pellets are sold to the remanufacturer.
  • Contamination issues, overview:
  • Contamination reduces the value of recyclable PET by hindering processing and causing unproductive downtime and clean up expenses for PET processors, reclaimers and end-users.
  • PET bottles can get confused with food and liquid containers that are made from other plastic resins that post major contamination problems for the PET recycling process.
  • Some PET bottles are manufactured with barrier resins, closures, labels, safety seals, or contain product residues that can introduce incompatible materials than contaminate PET recycling process.
  • Many materials that pose contamination problems for PET recycling are contained on the PET bottle itself. Therefore, there are a number of design elements that can be implemented that significantly increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of the PET recycling process. These design for recycling efforts have been aimed at reducing the impact of such materials as labels, the adhesives used to affix them and the inks used to print them.
  • PVC contamination:
  • The primary contaminate to the PET recycling process is PVC; it can form acids when mixed with PET during processing. These acids break down the physical and chemical structure of PET, causing it to turn yellow and brittle. This will render the material inacceptable for many high-value end use applications. There are four primary sources of PVC contaminates that can enter the PET recycling process:
  • PVC look-alikes= PVC bottles that resemble PET bottles.
  • PVC safety seals that are used on certain containers, like mouthwash.
  • PVC liners found inside some caps and closures.
  • PVC labels that are affixed to some PET containers.
  • The sensitivity of PET to PVC contamination is based on the ultimate end-use application for which the recycled PET is intended, but in general the tolerance for PVC contamination is extremely low. The negative impacts of PVC contamination can occur with concentrations as low as 50 parts per million.
  • Other resins:
  • The presence of resins other than PET may also post problems with processing and remanufacturing PET.
  • The presence of closures may introduce plastics other than PVC that may contaminate the PET recycling process or add separation costs. In addition, some closures are made from aluminum, which can pose problems for some PET reclaimers and end-users or increase cleaning costs.
  • There are also a growing number of PET containers and other PET packaging materials which are marked with the SPI # 1 resin ID code that pose a number of problems to PET reclaimers. In some cases these containers are manufactured with modified PET plastic resins or in laminated forms that contain barrier resins that are either incompatible with the recycling of “bottle grade” PET plastic resin, or are difficult to distinguish from acceptable materials with current sorting technology.
  • These modified PET resins may have physical or chemical properties that make them incompatible with ‘bottle grade’ PET resin during the recycling process. However, very few of these modified PET resins are used to manufacture bottles with screw-neck tops. This is why many recycling programs that collect PET plastic will only requires PET bottles with screw-necks.
  • PET Microwave trays= these are manufactured from crystallized PET, known as CPET, and are incompatible with bottle grade PET resin and must be excluded.
  • PET drinking glasses, “Clamshells” and “Blister packs”= drinking glasses are manufactured from APET and not compatible with PET bottle recycling stream; PET clamshells and PET blister packs, while TECHNICALLY COMPATIBLE with the recycling of bottle-grade PET, run into “look-alike” issues with other clamshells and blisters that are not made from PET.
  • PET laundry scoops= while technically it is possible to recycle PETE scoops with PET bottles if they are clear or transparent green, it is best to exclude them as many laundry scoops are opaque and may introduce contaminates due to pigmentation.
  • PETG= many custom PET bottles are now manufactured from PETG. PETG containers are manufactured differently than other PET containers and are generally known s extrusion-blown containers. PETG has a much lower melting point than bottle grade PET resin and can cause a number of technical and operating problems to PET reclaimers.
  • Multi layer PET containers= an increasing number of PET containers are manufactured with multi-layer construction. Some of these containers are manufactured with a barrier resin known as ethyl vinyl alcohol (EVOH). The presence of EVOH is a problem for reclaimers as it effects the clarity of the finished product or can cause a change to the intrinsic viscosity (IV) of the recycled PET that renders it unacceptable for certain end-use applications. Like PETG, it is difficult to distinguish a multi-layer PET container from a single-layer PET container.
  • Colored PET= PET reclaimers and end users are generally only interested in clear and transparent green containers, as they have the best end-use applicability.
  • Labels= Some PET containers, including coffee containers, liquor bottles and mustard jars, may contain metalized labels that pose problems for some reclaimers.
  • Misc. considerations:
  • Bale specifications= the lack of standardization and the resulting variability of the quality and content of baled post-consumer PET bottles adds economic costs to and limits the efficiency of the PET recycling process.
  • Granulating= properly designed and maintained PET granulating systems will optimize quality, production efficiency and throughput, and general workplace safety.
  • Dirty regrind specs: the quality requirements for PET regrind are far more demanding than for baled PET. And, the allowable levels of contamination in PET regrind are in the parts per million range. The quality of PET regrind is crucial to the efficiency and economics of subsequent PET recycling processing stages. Producing dirty regrind that meets the specific specifications will ensure the ability to market granulated PET.
  • Baled PET= Properly stored bales help maintain the quality of prepared PC PET plastics prior to sale.
  • PET regrind (dirty flake)= Properly stored boxes of PET regrind help maintain the quality of prepared PC PET regrind prior to sale and further processing and limit the economic losses associated with improper storage.
  • Shipping/Truck loading, Receiving and Weight Determination= Properly loaded trucks of PET bales and boxes of PET regrind can ensure regulatory compliance with maximum legal shipping weights, lessen the possibility of contamination, and prevent costly material losses and clean-up expenses due to improper loading. Proper paperwork and weight verification for shipments can help reduce disputes over material quality or quantity.
  • Generic end-use categories for recycled PET:
  • Packaging applications, such as new bottles; This is one of the highest value end-uses for recycled PET
  • Sheet and film applications, including thermoforming applications;
  • Strapping;
  • Engineered resins application (such as reinforced components for automobiles);
  • And, fiber applications (such as carpets, fabrics, and fiberfill).
  • Examples include: Belts, blankets, boat hulls, business cards, caps, car parts, carpets, egg cartons, furniture, insulation, landfill liners, overhead transparencies, paint brush bristles, pillows, polyester fabric for upholstery and clothes, recycling bins, sails, strapping, stuffing for winter jackets/sleeping bags/quilts, tennis ball cans, twine, etc.
  • How to increase the recycling of PET bottles:
  • Consumer education increases quantity and quality of recyclable material; reduces contaminates included with recyclables.
  • Only PET bottles with screw-neck tops should be placed out for collection or brought to a collection location. PET bottles can be identified by looking for the #1 resin ID on the bottle of PET bottles. Any non-bottle PET items, like thermoforms, should be excluded. These materials introduce contaminants or create technical or economic problems in the PET recycling process.
  • Only PET containers that are clear or transparent green should be included for recycling.
  • Consumers should remove lids, caps, and other closures from PET bottles placed out for recycling.
  •  All PET bottles that are set out for recycling should be completely free of contents and rinsed clean.
  • Consumer should flatten PET bottles prior to setting them out. This decreases collection costs.
  • Consumers should never place any material other than the original contents into PET bottles intended for recycling i.e. chemicals.
  • Encourage consumers to purchase products made with recycled content; this will ensure the long-term demand and economic infrastructure for the recovery of post consumer PET.
  • Encourage retailers to increase the amount of recycled content in their private label packaging.
  • Encourage product producers to increase the amount of recycled content in their products.
  • Encourage produce producers to source packaging with a percentage of PC content.
  • Designate ALL PET bottles with screw-neck caps are acceptable for recycling.

Chandler Slavin, Dordan Mfg.

Supply and demand of PET bottles, North American context

  • Supply:
  • Although recyclers say finding bales of PCR material is easier than before, the QUALITY is way down (plasticstoday.com)
  • Coca-Cola’s plant bottle capped its PCR PET content at 30% in North America, due to limited supply (plasticstoday.com).
  • Working to counter that is Leon Farahnik (see case studies).
  • 30,699 tones of PET bottles were generated in Canada from 1999 to 2000.
  • 42% of PET bottles generated were recovered post-consumer.
  • Demand:
  • There is a high demand for PCR PET bottles in North America: “There is a phenomenal pent-up demand for PC PET recyclate…the problem now is getting it” (NAPCOR).
  • There are over 250 buyers of PET bottle bales in North America.
  • Brand owners and product producers demand PCR PET for packaging and products.
Chandler Slavin, Dordan Mfg.

Supply and demand of PET thermoforms, North American context

  • Supply:
  • According to the ACC, about 325 million lbs of non-bottle plastic packaging was recycled in 2007, with 2/3rds being exported. The ACC estimates that there has to be about 400 million lbs of a particular plastic for the recycling of it to be profitable. APR estimates that in the U.S., grocery stores generate about 135,000 tonnes/year of rigid plastics packaging (plasticstoday.com).
  • In the U.S., there is a tremendous interest in increasing the available supply of PCR from thermoformed PET packaging (plasticstoday.com).
  • 1.4 billion lbs of PET thermoforms produced in North America in 2008 (plasticstoday.com).
  • By 2011, thermoform PET recycling could be ? the size of the PET bottle market as growth in PET thermoforms is estimated at 15% per year.
  • This is because the substitution of PET with PVC in many thermoforming applications.
  • Confusion exists around the generation of PET thermoforms because ambiguous categories i.e. “other rigids” vs. “custom PET.” See “Plastic Waste Management Strategy for Ontario” handout from MOC meeting, #1.
  • Demand:
  • Demand for recyclate from PET bottles is “going through the roof,” which means many recyclers are hesitant to start recycling non-bottle PCR PET, for which there is no defined customer base.
  • Retailers and product producers demand PCR plastic for use in products and packaging.
  • Market drivers:
  • Public policy
  • Corporate initiatives i.e. retailer mandates a certain % of PCR content in plastic packaging.
  • China i.e. will China virgin continue to undercut the U.S., will Chinese exporters rely on U.S. bottle scrap?
  • The cost of energy: if the cost of fuel rises, there may be more interest in recovering PET thermoforms from the waste stream.
  • Obstacles:
  • Look-alike plastics like oriented polystyrene, polylactic acid and PVC containers that are difficult to sort from thermoformed PET packaging, either manually or in auto-sorting operations.
  • Adhesives used on pressure-sensitive paper labels are different from those used on PET bottles and could cause yellowing
  • Some direct printing
  • Different additives than in PET bottles
  • Flake geometry concerns.
  • Wide variability in intrinsic viscosity. PET bottles= 0.64-0.80 vs. PET thermoforms= 0.70 -0.75 (according to our supplier of RPET).
  • Different shapes and sizes of PET thermoforms make it difficult to bale and they don’t “fly” like bottles do during the sortation/ejection process.
  • There are no specs for PET thermoform bales. The only specs that exist are for mixed material bales? this is usually a low grade plastic mix that is remanufactured into timber-applications or playgrounds.
  • Multi-later material PET thermoforms i.e. APET barrier, RPET base, etc.
  • Low generation and recovery because non-homogenous and no defined end-market.

Chandler Slavin, Dordan Mfg.

Interview with StewardEdge and Stewardship Ontario’s Director of Plastics Development

  • In 1/3 and soon to be 3/3 provinces in Canada, EPR legislation exists, which requires industry to fund the recovery of their packaging post-consumer; this DRIVES recycling in Canada.
  • Stewardship Ontario (hereafter, S.O.) is like the Fost Plus system of Belgium for Canada—it takes money from industry to cover the costs of reprocessing packaging waste post-consumer.? It has a monopoly on this right now insofar as it is the only company that works as the middle man between industry and municipalities; it collects materials via blue box system, sorts, cleans and grinds at MRFs, and is sold to domestic and international markets.
  • S.O. doesn’t really care how materials get recycled i.e. bottles to bottles vs. bottles to carpet; they care that materials are recycled.
  • PET thermoforms are collected and sold as follows:
  • PET and other rigid thermoforms are not targeted by municipalities in Canada.
  • Some municipalities collect rigids with bottles, which are baled together, and sold to China—this means that there is a market for mixed bottle and thermo bales.
  • However, things are being done on “numerous fronts” and we should see some results in a year in regard to developing new end markets for non-bottle rigids.
  • PET bottles are collected and sold as follows:
  • Collected via Blue Box system; enjoy high recovery rates
  • There is a demand for PET bottles but not enough supply.
  • According to Guy, “there is an oversupply of recycling capacity for PET.
  • To increase the recovery of all plastic materials, S.O. is open to the following sortation systems:
  • Sort each resin manual or via optical sorter;
  • Blend the different resins together for a low-grade plastic mix;
  • Taylor the different resins via pyrolysis or other WTE technologies;
  • Upgrade the resins via chemical manipulation.
  • Problems with recovery thermoforms:
  • Lack of quantity;
  • Economic issues (price of virgin vs. price of recycled PET);
  • Sorting/technology barriers;
  • Lack of investment;
  • Lack of defined supply and demand.
  • Companies with an investment in packaging materials have invested 3 million dollars in S.O. to develop new markets for plastic scrap

Chandler Slavin, Dordan Mfg.

Case Studies

  • Par-Pak LTD (Brampton, Canada):
  • In 2011, Par-Pak is importing $2.5 million worth of equipment from Europe that will palletize and decontaminate both bottle and thermoform PET for reuse in food-grade containers.
  • Sorting tests have been conducted at Toronto’s Dufferin recycling plant and in the Region of Waterloo and the thermoform bales have been shipped to the U.S. for processing south of the border (Thermoforming Quarterly).
  • “Our ultimate goal is to have our containers go into a blue box, collected, sorted and ground and us buy it and make more containers out of it.”
  • Global Plastics/Global PET (California):
  • Washes, grinds, extrudes, and thermoforms PET into clamshell packages using nothing but post-consumer recycled PET.
  • “Bottle Box:” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRPYccEXt-8.
  • Received a grant of nearly 7 million from the state of California.
  • Established a 10-year partnership with Plastic Recycling Corp. for 60 million lbs of post-consumer PET bottles.
  • Company X:
  • Buy PET bottle and thermoform bales and extrude into second generation PCR PET clamshells.
  • Questions:
  • What are the specs of the bales of thermoforms Company X is buying from the MRF? Are they only PET thermoforms or are they mixed material thermoform bales?
  •  If only PET thermoforms, is there enough QUANTITY of these types of packages available for the recovery of PET thermoforms to be economically sustainable?
  • How do they collect ONLY PET thermoforms without collecting “look a likes” like PVC, which will completely compromise the integrity of the PET bale, or PETG, which has a lower melting temperature and therefore adds inconsistencies to the recovery process?
  • Are you planning on integrating the PET thermoform scrap with the PET bottle scrap and extruding together? If so, how will you handle the different IVs between sheet grade PET and bottle grade PET?
  • If mixed material thermoform bales i.e. PET, PETG, PP, etc., how are the different resins sorted for recovery? Are they blended together to create a low-grade, mixed resin flake for down-cycling applications? If so, who is buying this low-grade, mixed resin flake?
  • What kind of sorting technology is utilized to be able to generate a clean, quality stream of PET thermoforms for Company X to grind, clean, and extrude for direct food-contact packaging?
  • How are you competing with Asia for PCR PET?
  • Ice River Springs (Toronto)
  • Bottle-bottle recycling a.k.a. “closed loop.”
  • “Our goal is to eliminate our dependency on foreign virgin PET resin by self-manufacturing recycled resin from baled post-consumer plastic purchased from MRFs” (Packworld, April 2010).
  • “AMUT S.p.A.”= technology that sorts, cleans, and flakes PC PET
  • “Starlinger”= technology implemented for the purification of the clean RPET material; it has a Solid State Poly-condensation technology that effectively purifies PET flake and keeps the energy consumption and cost to a minimum. The Starlinger system concerts flake to PET pellets, which are then used for the next generation of bottles.
  • Ontario recyclers will no longer need to sell baled PET to Asia?purchase of baled PET will provide a stable demand for baled PET bottles in Canada.
  • HPC, Leon Farahnik:
  • Intends to build a 100 million lbs per year PET recycling plant in California because most PC PET is exported to China; Faraknik believes he can compete with Asia for PET bales
  • UNM International (Hong Kong) = purchased 140 million lbs of PCR plastics in 2009 from North America and the Middle East
  • Chinese recyclers can not find enough QUALITY recyclate.
  • Problem= high demand for PET recyclate; how to get it?
  • Haycore (Canada):
  • Accepts some non-bottle plastic material post-consumer.
  • Clear Path (North Carolina):
  • A new facility that may have the ability to take RPET clamshell materials the other way (toward bottles, or at least polyester), but we wont know until the plant is live next year.
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