Recycled PET (rPET) in Retail Packaging

Recycled PET (rPET) in Retail PackagingFebruary 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 Price CEO 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 Recyclability Biodegradable Carbon footprint Lightweight Recycled 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 Davidson Plastics 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 Application Bottles Semi rigid sheet Strapping Thermoformed packs Imported packaging Total Tonnage of PET (kt/a) 300 25 10 60 15 410 UK Plastic Bottle Collection Assume 45% is PET Assume 45% is PET WRAP 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] Virgin PET supply PET packaging production Product use & disposal Polyester fibre, strapping, packaging, other Reprocessing Export 75% UK 25% 15% Waste Management c85% Landfill or incineration Current UK bottle recycling flow Virgin PET supply PET packaging production Product use & disposal Food grade rPET material Polyester fibre, strapping, packaging, other Reprocessing Export UK 30%+ Waste Management Emerging PET packaging loop: UK reprocessing infrastructure Landfill or incineration UK rPET: Packaging Demand v Material Supply 250 225 200 175 '000 tonnes 150 125 100 75 50 25 0 20 08 20 08 20 09 20 05 20 09 20 05 20 10 20 06 20 10 20 11 20 11 20 12 20 12 20 13 20 13 20 14 20 14 20 15 20 15 20 07 20 06 20 07 Total mixed bottle collection Current UK rPET usage - locked in Current UK rPET demand Potential rPET output Current UK rPET usage - other 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 Material Number of studies evaluated 19 29 108 42 19 31 24 Number of studies used 11 3 9 10 11 9 2 Number of scenarios identified 25 7 63 60 20 20 6 Glass Wood Paper and cardboard Plastics Aluminium Steel Aggregates 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 [email protected] Thank you Post-Consumer PET in Direct Food Contact Applications – Global Challenges and Commercial Experiences WRAP Conference London, UK February 6, 2007 Karel Wendl Principle Engineer The Coca-Cola Company, USA Topics The Past: Establishment of guidelines/safety The Present: Availability of post consumer material Processing for non-food and food applications Global regulatory status Commercial experiences using recycled PET in bottle-to-bottle applications The 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 request In the United States, Industry and the FDA met to begin discussing acceptable approaches for the use of PCR Plastics in food applications The Past Traditional risk assessment is based on knowing the identity of potential contaminants With post consumer plastics, the dilemma was that the potential contaminants were unknown The Past FDA’s approach with industry input was to establish robust surrogate testing demonstrating surrogate removal below a level of concern FDA formally established their industry guidelines in May 1992 – Guidelines employed the concept of the “Threshold of Regulation” The 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 ? 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 migration Effects of contaminant removal via washing Effects of contaminant removal via extrusion Effects of contaminant removal via “super cleaning” Composition of the PCRPET feed stream Absorbed Compounds in the PCRPET feed stream Statistical evaluation of the European PET feed stream establishing the basic absorbed compounds, their levels and the relative degree of incidental contamination WHERE WE ARE ? ILSI Europe Packaging task force developed similar guidelines in 1998 Many countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia have reviewed the science, and established their own guidelines\criteria for use of PCR PET in food applications EU regulation on recycling has been drafted based on two EU funded FAIR projects, and hopefully will be approved in 2007 The Present Availability of Material WORLD PET Packaging Demand 40 35 30 Million tons 25 20 15 10 5 00 1992 1997 2002 2007 2012 2017 1992-2017 33.1 10+MMt 24.6 15.7 9.1 1.7 4.7 Citizen demand USA Post Consumer PET Collection 1984-2005 500 Metric Tonnes X 000 400 300 200 100 0 19 84 19 86 19 88 19 90 19 92 19 94 19 96 19 98 20 00 20 02 20 04 45 456 Year USA Collection Volumes 1995-2005 1100 1000 900 800 Pounds (MM) 45% 39.7% 40% 35% 30% Percent (%) 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002* 2003 2004 21.6% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Amount Collected Recycling Percent Post Consumer PET Bottle Recycling in Europe 2005 Post consumer PET Bottle Collection Actual and Projected Volume (2006) 931 665 612 448 347 796 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 000 Tonnes 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 2001 AJN1072/ at 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Source: PCI/PETCORE Post Consumer PET Bottle Recycling in Europe 2005 2500 2000 2109 Metric Tonnes x 000 1500 Post Consumer PET Virgin PET 1000 500 76% 283 20% 100% 80 39 Strap Sheet 4% 75 Beverage Bottles 59% 9.2 Injection 0 Fibres Source: PETCORE Processing PCRPET* after Collection * Post Consumer Recycled PET Typical Process of PET Flake Washing Recycling Plant Bailed PET Bottle Final Grinder Size: 8mm Metal Detector Al Cap, etc. removal Debaler Label Separator Label removal Clear Flake Packer PVC Separator(X-ray) PVC Bottle Flake Washer Caustic: 3% 85 C - 20min. Storage Shipping IV=0.76 Vibrator Dryer Flake Feeder Color Bottle Detector Green/Blue PET Bottle Hydro Cyclone PE,PP removal Pelletizer 600 mesh Inspection Conveyor 3 Operators/line Rinse Washer First Grinder Size: 50mm Flash Dryer Pellet Packer Aluminum Detector Gravity Separator Label removal Storage Shipping IV=0.73 Completing the Cycle Recycled PET Post Consumer PET Completing the Cycle Recycled PET Post Consumer PET Fiber Applications Clothing Completing the Cycle Recycled PET Post Consumer PET Preform Bottles Food & non-Food Application New Bottles PROCESSING FOR FOOD APPLICATIONS : TECHNOLOGIES PET RECYCLING OPTIONS 1. DEPOLYMERIZATION REPOLYMERIZE DEPOLYMERIZE (MAKE PET) (BREAK DOWN INTO ORIGINAL COMPONENTS) GRIND WASH 2. MULTILAYER PET FLAKE Virgin Layer PET FLAKE Recycled Layer Virgin Layer GRIND WASH 3. MONOLAYER GRIND WASH PET FLAKE SUPER CLEANING MONOLAYER GRIND WASH PET FLAKE PROPRIETARY “SUPER CLEANING” PROCESSES MONOLAYER DECONTAMINATION PROCESSES – – – – – – HEAT VACUUM SUPER CRITICAL FLUIDS SURFACE AREA SOLVENTS SURFACE CHEMICAL TREATMENT US FDA No Objection Letters Polyethylene Terephthalate 55 – Chemical Depolymerization – Multilayer – Physical Direct Contact 16 12 20 Polyethlyene Naphthalate High Density Polyethylene Polystyrene 1 9 13 Source: US FDA web Site - http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov US FDA PET Direct Contact Approvals JCI Wellman, Inc. Wellman, Inc. Wellman, Inc. Crown Cork & Seal Pure Tech Clean Tech OHL Phoenix Technologies Phoenix Technologies URRC Aug. 24,1994 Mar. 13, 1996 May. 2, 1996 Jun. 6, 1996 Jan. 5, 1998 Oct 2, 1998 Dec. 29, 1998 Apr. 13, 1999 Aug. 10, 1998 Aug. 10, 1998 Feb. 1, 2000 US FDA PET Direct Contact Approvals EREMA GmbH Phoenix Technologies* Visy Plastics Pty Ltd. EREMA GmbH Buhler AG Wellman, Inc. EREMA GmbH AMCOR OHL Nov. 17, 2000 Apr. 20, 2001 June 1, 2001 June 7, 2001 June 13, 2001 Jan. 28, 2003 Feb. 10, 2003 Feb. 10, 2003 Mar. 17, 2003 PET Rebirth (AIES) Tokyo, Japan Food Grade Post Consumer PET Recycling Plant Frauenfeld, Switzerland Food Grade Post Consumer PET Recycling Plant Sydney, Australia Food Grade Post Consumer PET Recycling Plant Toluca, Mexico THE 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 Limonene Unprocessed Processed Purge & Trap GC/MS Challenging p-c PET feedstock - India Challenging p-c PET feedstock - Mexico INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING PACKAGING STATUS METHANOLYSIS GLYCOLYSIS MULTILAYER USA / EU / Japan / Canada USA / Australia / Canada USA / Australia / Austria / Sweden U K / Argentina / Switzerland / Brazil Belgium / NZ / Japan / Chile / Bolivia Canada / France / Finland / Norway USA / Belgium / Netherlands / Canada/ France / Australia / Finland Sweden / N Z / Switzerland / Germany / Norway / Mexico / Austria/Hungary/Slovakia/Czech Rep. 17 MONOLAYER 17 INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING PACKAGING STATUS 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! INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING PACKAGING STATUS In our bottles, we use Monolayer B-2-B URRC- type chip/flake in 9 European countries and 11 countries world-wide 9 Preform converters, and in excess of 15 bottle blowers process such chip/flake, since 2001 in some cases Recycle PET percentages in bottles vary depending on local conditions/demands Our QA requirements are no different than for Virgin PET bottles. INTERNATIONAL RECYCLING PACKAGING STATUS Production - 52 weeks per year to produce BM of bottles for our use, since 1991 Converters 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 PET Technical Issues Professor Edward Kosior Managing Director, Nextek Limited February 6th 2007 London UK Closing the Loop on rPET from 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 Background Professor/Director RMIT Polymer Tech. Centre- Rapidsort NIR detector- Rofin R&D Manager Visy Industries. Establishment of mixed bottle plant to FDA rPET process Revision of Sydney Coca Cola Plant – Phoenix process Market development bottle, fibre, sheet and moulding applications RECENT UK Projects Development of PET recycling plant for Closed Loop London Development of a new FDA Food Grade PET Recycling Process Demonstration of Viability of rPET in Retail Packaging: CLL, M&S and Boots Beverage Packaging Waste Reduction: Light weighting PET bottles, Esterform Using Post-Consumer Tyres in a Range of New Applications: Pipe Sealing System Development of Light Weight Compostable Packaging- Sainsburys Demonstration trial of Recycled HDPE into Milk Bottles- WRAP Three Approaches to Food Grade Recycling for PET •Chemical or Feedstock recycling USFDA approval without the need for a challenge test Can handle colours and contamination and use 50% input Should be integrated with virgin PET Plant Glycolysis 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 Recycling Requires proof of meeting the “Challenge Test” criteria Flake or pellet needs high temperature decontamination and IV adjustment Chemical or Feedstock Recycling Chemical Recycling Breakdown of PET into Basic building blocks, purifying and re- polymerising back to Virgin PET 3 key Chemical methods Methanolysis Glycolysis Hydrolysis 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 temp At least 50 micron layers for T ≥ room temp PET 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 Materials All food contact materials: Manufactured according to good manufacturing practice Not allow constituents to migrate into food in quantities: harmful to human health affect nature/quality of the food -(including taste and smell) Current regulations European 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 food Specific Migration limits for individual substances Compliance declarations Migration test methods US FDA regulations Threshold 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 Processes Any 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 issued 17 chemical processes and 52 physical recycling processes for rPET •Chemical recycling no longer requires FDA accreditation. . Chemicals and Surrogates Chemical Chloroform Diazinon Lindane Gasoline Disodium Arsenate Surrogate Trichloroethane Benzophenone Phenyldecane Toluene Copper Octoate Category Polar, Volatile Polar, Non-volatile Non-polar, Non- Volatile Non-polar Volatile Organo metallic Safety factors in USFDA Protocol Threshold of regulation Use of 100% contamination in test Over concentration of surrogates Consumption factor Food distribution factor(% recycle) - 1000 to 500,000 -10,000 -10 >10 >2 Total Safety Factors 1000x 10,000 x 10 x 10 x 2 = >2x 10 ie >2 billion times safety factor 9 Decontamination results (new WRAP rPET process) Surrogate Chemical Flake Initial ppm Flake After wash ppm Flake After High Temp Decontamination ppm <0.1 0.2±0.01 0.4±0.03 0.6±0.45 1.2±0.99 Limiting levels based on migration into oil ppm 15 16.6 16.7 21 23.4 Chloroform Toluene Chlorobenzene Phenylcyclohexane Benzophenone 592±77 736±163 649±83 795±186 694±180 300±24 237±32 225±26 507±104 419±88 Decontamination results Rt = 1.8 min, Acetaldehyde Rt = 2.5 min, 2-methyl-1,3-dioxolane Rt = 2.9 min, ethylene glycol Input Flake Washed Flake limonene (Rt = 8.1 min) Decontaminated Flake 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 PET All 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 Dry Waste (kg) 8,484 509 127 681 1,054 93 213 57 266 92 5,392 Level (%) 6.00% 1.50% 8.00% 12.40% 1.10% 2.50% 0.70% 3.10% 1.10% 36.40% 63.60% Contamination Level PET 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% Input Moisture Iron wires Labels Manual sorting Metal separator Dust Coloured particles Caps Waste in waste water Total waste PET flakes Sorting Bottles and Flakes with Visible and Near Infra Red (NIR) Sorters NRT Mikrosort MSS Rofin RTT S+S Satake Titech Unisensor Reflection Transmission Page: 09 RTT Uni-sort NIR– PX Technology RTT UniSort PX 1 Unit = 3 Fractions New Flexibility in operation Sectioned sorters RTT UniSort PX – Section Kombination Sensor Aufgabe UNISORT® PX Ein Gerät drei Fraktionen Doppelaustrag HDPE PET UNISORT® Section 3 Ein Sensor drei unterschiedliche Sortiersektoren Sensor Section 3 Section 2 Section 1 PET positive Austrag HDPE Durchlauffraktion / Reste Reste Materialrückführung um die Ausbringung zu maximieren PX – Section 3 Kombination ersetzt 5 Standard Sortiermodule durch RTT geschützt beim deutschen Patentamt Nr.: DBGM 203 10 406.4 Layout and efficiency of Bottle Sorting Brantner Austria Firma Brantner, Österreich, IBS Juni 2004 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 data 5. 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 INFEED DEBALE SORT BOTTLES METAL REMOVAL GRIND DRY CLEAN HOT WASH SORT FLAKE DECONTAMINATION SINK-FLOAT in water DRY/AIR CLASSIFICATION METAL REMOVAL SORT FLAKE EXTRUDE TO PELLET END USE CUSTOMERS 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 for decontamination 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 wetoperation 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 0.78 Plants 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% 10.00% 1.00% 0.10% 0.01% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% Proportion of original material present after a given number of cycles % Recycled rate 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 20.00% 30.00% 40.00% 50.00% 60.00% 70.00% 80.00% 90.00% 4.00% 9.00% 16.00% 25.00% 36.00% 49.00% 64.00% 81.00% 0.80% 2.70% 6.40% 12.50% 21.60% 34.30% 51.20% 72.90% 0.16% 0.81% 2.56% 6.25% 12.96% 24.01% 40.96% 65.61% 0.03% 0.24% 1.02% 3.13% 7.78% 16.81% 32.77% 59.05% 0.01% 0.07% 0.41% 1.56% 4.67% 11.76% 26.21% 53.14% 0.00% 0.02% 0.16% 0.78% 2.80% 8.24% 20.97% 47.83% 0.00% 0.01% 0.07% 0.39% 1.68% 5.76% 16.78% 43.05% 0.00% 0.00% 0.03% 0.20% 1.01% 4.04% 13.42% 38.74% 0.00% 0.00% 0.01% 0.10% 0.60% 2.82% 10.74% 34.87% 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 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 properties rPET 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 current and 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 Sinclair Head of Unit (Policy and Legislation) Introduction Governing principle The legislation Its main provisions Future Recycling Regulation When Questions Governing Principle All food contact materials: • Manufactured according to good manufacturing practice • Not allow constituents to migrate into food in quantities: - harmful to human health - affect 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