Future Market Opportunities for Problematic PET Bottles

According to a report by Plastic Technologies, Inc., (PTI) an opportunity to create a market for non-colored problematic PET bottles may be available that does not exist today.

“However, rigorous performance testing would need to be done to understand how the incorporation of these PET bottles might impact an amber recycle stream,” Plastic Technologies, Inc.*) underlined. “The goal is to find a way to allow clear, but problematic bottles, that yellow when recycled to benefit an amber recycling stream. It’s possible that yellowing can be offset by blending them with amber colored bottles to yield an acceptable amber color for reuse,” Frank Schloss, Ph.D., Plastic Technologies, Inc., is quoted.

If the relatively low volume of PET used for amber carbonated soft drink, beer and pharmaceutical PET packaging usage increases, items returned for recycling may reach a level significant enough to warrant their own stream, the company is convinced. Additionally, brand owners would be under pressure to demonstrate that these packages can be sustainably reused in the production of new amber recycle-content bottles.

As reported, the use of PET to produce bottles and containers for oxygen sensitive products as well as carbonated beverages is limited to some degree by its barrier properties. “These limitations can be overcome through the use of oxygen scavengers, multilayer structures and plasma coatings,” the company informed. “But unfortunately, other than some plasma coating options, these barrier solutions also present recycling difficulties. The oxygen scavenger and multilayer barrier bottles present PET reclaimers with issues that cause the rPET materials to yellow after melt reprocessing.”

For more information on the report visit www.plastictechnologies.com/company/resource-library/white-papers.aspx.

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*) According to their own statements, Plastic Technologies, Inc. (PTI) is recognized worldwide as one of the preferred sources for preform and package design, package development, rapid prototyping, pre-production prototyping, and material evaluation engineering for the plastic packaging industry.

Photo: bvse

GR 32017