The use of recycled PET in food packaging will get a boost in 2009 when a closed-loop bottle recycling plant is due to open in the north of England.
Recycling company Petagain said it has developed relationships to obtain sufficient material supply as well as find end markets for its rPET, which is particularly suitable for water and soft drinks bottles or thermoformed films.
"We are trying to move away from spot buying and selling of material, because it undermines the sustainability of recycled PET," said chief financial officer Andrew Feather.
Petagain's facility will use a chemical process to recycle post-consumer waste – most plants currently use mechanical sorting equipment – which Feather said "improves the quality of the polymer produced".
"We also believe that with our process, the yields are better," he added.
The current supply of rPET in Europe is estimated to be 20% of total demand.
According to Petagain, the plant will be able to recycle 20,000 tonnes per year by 2012, eliminating 30,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.
In September, Innocent Drinks and GlaxoSmithKline highlighted shortfalls in the UK supply of rPET as they announced they were moving lines over to 100% rPET.
Source: packagingnews
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