PET trays: time to change the design, say plastic recyclers

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Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) are urging processors to change the design for PET trays, as according to them they are not being properly recycled.

The last few years have seen a significant increase in the use of PET trays with 70,000 tonnes being used on the market yearly.

However according to PRE “None of the current recycling streams want to have PET trays in their incoming waste.”

Adding “recyclers do not want them because of their incompatibility with polyolefins“

According to the recycling group, collection schemes and sorters are even trying to push trays into PET bottles or mixed plastics streams to achieve higher recycling targets.

PRE believe without a change in the PET market, the whole product could be replaced by more resource efficient solutions.

The group will take steps towards the improvement of the design, including developing recycling guidelines that will enable the trays to move towards recyclability.

Separate sorting streams will also have to be created to enable PET tray recycling, as the company suggests some non-PET trays also have similar issues.

The group added, “As a proactive industry, recyclers are willing to cooperate with more stakeholders to further develop these guidelines.”

“All trays have an important packaging function but need adapt to recyclability requirements in order to grow in the years to come.”

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PTT PET

PET Tray material in the UK is becoming more and more of an issue. With false recyclability information deriving from PET bottle recyclability figures.

Yes it is all 'sortable', but is has little to no second hand commodity value as markets are few and far between for the sorted post consumer PET trays. Many bales of end of life PET trays get exported to the far east, get sent to refuse derived fuel or landfill sites, despite claims of a recyclable life cycle.

Make your trays from PP when possible. Please keep in mind that a PET bottle IS recyclable here in the UK and we have a fantastic network of companies pioneering the PET and HDPE bottle stream, where as PET trays tend to cause quality issues from contamination of bottle streams, though to harder to reach recycling targets, furthermore I believe they drag down the value of other types of plastics that normally have a good secondhand value. For example; a local waste management firm gets a price penalty on the percentage of non-bottle PET in a mixed plastics bale.

We want to help packaging designers make the right polymer choice for your packaging, one that is compatible with current UK recycling systems. A simple start would be to opt for single polymer packaging designs and one that used PP or HDPE where possible as a preferred polymer.

We understand this is not always possible due to limitations of certain pack designs, but if there is a choice for recyclability in the UK, PP or HDPE are the best options.

The debate continues - http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/plastics/eupr-calls-for-separate-pet-tray-recycling

Dan Jordan more than 4 years ago

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