Sourcing Post Consumer Resin: Six Considerations

In fact, among companies in those segments, nearly half say post consumer recycled resin is playing a significant role in their sustainable packaging strategies, according to Jabil’s recent study . Consumer packaged goods companies have a strong tendency (64%) to incorporate post consumer material and other recycled content as part of their product-level initiatives. Download the full survey report.

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Ask many of the world's leading brands about their sustainable packaging plans and they will tell you: they aim to make their packaging 100% reusable or recyclable by 2025 . More specifically, many plan to source post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials—such as post consumer recycled resin—to get there. This sentiment is echoed across the entire landscape of food and beverage , as well as personal and home care segments.

While post consumer recycled resin seems to be the leading option to accomplish packaging sustainability in the industry, there are several considerations to make when sourcing PCR material:

1) How can I be sure my company is using 100% post consumer plastic?    

There are four main plastics used in packaging: polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Currently, high density polyethylene (HDPE) and PET recycling are more common than others. The infrastructure is built to support the collection of these materials and many CPGs lead initiatives to educate consumers to recycle. PP is readily recyclable but needs more infrastructure and education around the material. Finally, PS is also recyclable as it is extremely tolerant to “re-melting,” but its collection presents difficulties due to its form factor.  

Certain plastics are like oil and water—they don’t mix well. The contamination caused by their mixing, or worse yet, the addition of other factors (such as food, dirt, or other contaminants) can render the resins very difficult to reuse. The makeup of the post consumer resins can be a big obstacle in the industry’s endeavor to achieve a truly circular economy, which is a critical piece for packaging sustainability. 

In addition, based on your company’s performance requirements of the product, the mixing of the materials can lead to further complications in achieving goals. Almost 60% of European plastics converting companies find it “hard” or “very hard” to reuse plastic scrap due to contamination, according to a European Plastics Converters Association study. 

Then how can you ensure 100% purity for packaging materials? 

The first step is to establish a set of recycled material goals for your product. Then, you need to partner with your supplier to evaluate and understand their sources and supply chain. They must have the appropriate quality controls and tests in place to ensure the material supplied meets your product’s specifications. 

Therefore, it is imperative that you have full visibility into your supplier ecosystem and a strong understanding of how the post-consumer recycled plastic was sourced, processed and produced.

2) Does the PCR resin comply with regulations?    

Not every type of recycled resin works for every use case or complies with applicable regulations. 

In the United States, the FDA has guidelines for the use of recycled plastics in food packaging. Specifically, they have three concerns that:

• Contaminants from the recycled material may end up in the food packaging
• Non-regulated post-consumer materials may make their way into food packaging
• Adjuvants in the recycled materials may not comply with food-contact regulations

Europe has more stringent guidelines. Under a regulation set over a decade ago, only “food-contact materials and articles that contain recycled plastic obtained from an authorized recycling process” may be used in the EU. 

It is very likely that in the future more industry standards will be developed, and perhaps also government regulation, to ensure the material really is what it should be. Brands once again can partner with governments worldwide to help shape regulation and drive post consumer recycled content forward.

Over the long term, this area will become more like medicine or food—when we go to a grocery or drug store, we hardly ever think about whether the medicine or food is “good” or “safe.” We rely on the system in the background which ensures that it is. 

3) Where can I find steady sources of high-quality PCR resin?

Finding a steady source of high-quality post consumer recycled plastic is a difficult endeavor today. Consumers are not yet recycling enough plastic waste worldwide—which drastically impacts the supply. The reasons vary from geographically different regulations to the additional cost customers must occasionally incur to recycle. Furthermore, while many understand the importance of recycling, many are also confused on how to properly do it. 

With such high demand for recycled materials, brands and packaging integrators must treat the sourcing of these resins as a partnership with their supplier, rather than a transactional exchange. Unlike sourcing virgin material, brands, converters and suppliers must work as a team and make the proper investments to build a viable infrastructure. Sometimes, that means launching community initiatives.

PepsiCo, for example, recognizes the importance of bringing all stakeholders together. To support the development of packaging sustainability, they launched PepsiCo Recycling, an initiative to improve plastics recycling infrastructure and raise awareness on the issue worldwide. With their partnerships through the program, they’ve provided recycling access to 33 million households across 700 communities in the U.S. since 2014, collecting more than 115 million pounds of plastic bottle and recyclables.  

These types of partnerships and investments can help you reach your sustainable packaging goals while making a big difference for the environment. Watch Jabil's documentary: The Sustainable Packaging Revolution for a better understanding of how integrators like Jabil, KW Plastics and Danimer Scientific are bringing innovative packaging solutions to the market.

4) How can my company contribute to a steadier supply of recycled materials?

While long-term partnerships and investments into the larger ecosystem will help to ensure a steady supply of post-consumer recycled resins, end-of-life must be addressed at the very beginning with product design. As it stands currently, approximately 30 percent of plastic packaging will never be reused or recycled without fundamental redesign or innovation, according to the World Economic Forum.

The current recycling infrastructure needs an overhaul, but brands can design their packages to optimize recyclability while working within the boundaries of the current infrastructure. This can be accomplished in different ways, such as making components out of a single polymer family, tethering a cap to a bottle or by minimizing how the packaging is assembled so it can be easily separated when necessary.

When designing product packaging, end-of-life must be top-of-mind. Otherwise, your company is contributing to the same problem it’s trying to overcome. 

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit recycled pet plastic resins.

PET is one of the most popular and used plastic packaging materials in the world. It is also one of the most dominant waste types in the ocean. However, used PET bottles should not be seen as waste, as they are 100% recyclable. The PET can be heated and molded into numerous shapes. It is a clean, safe, and convenient packaging method. Unlike glass and aluminum alternatives, PET has a low melting temperature. This makes it easy and sustainable to turn PET packaging into a circular economy, also called a closed loop.

Support circular economy by recycling PET bottles

 The circular economy is the idea to make products last as long and maintain high value so that they can stay in the economic loop for a long time.

The circular economy has a lot of benefits. By recycling PET bottles, we reduce the amount of waste in landfills, we save on the use of non-renewable resources, less water is used in the recycling process than in the production of virgin pellets, and fewer chemicals are needed to improve the properties of recycled plastic products.

When the plastic is no longer recyclable, it will still hold the same calorific value as it did as a virgin material and can then be used as fuel.

More and more consumers identify as environmentally aware, increasing the demand for recycled products. At the same time, the global population is growing, consequently leading to a greater demand for resources. By reusing the resources already extracted, we are less dependent on Earth's limited raw materials.

Step 1: Collecting the PET bottles

PET bottles can be discarded alongside other waste after use. However, that is not a sustainable solution. Most countries have a recycling plan to ensure that recyclable products, such as PET bottles, are not in the waste bin. Instead of throwing the PET bottles away, consumers are urged to put them in the recycling bin. From there, the recyclable products will be collected and transported to a sorting center.

Also, companies that produce PET waste should make sure they collect the waste and ensure its recycling.

Step 2: Separating the PET bottles

PET bottles get sorted roughly at sorting centers. Both the full and empty PET bottles need to be dewatered and compacted. This would be the perfect place for a RUNI Screw Compactor to separate the dry packaging material from the liquid.

For companies with a certain amount of waste from faulty batches in the production process, it is possible to make the recycling process much easier by dewatering and compacting the bottles. The transportation of PET to further recycling will also be much cheaper and more sustainable if the bottles are already dewatered and compacted. This is possible with a RUNI screw compactor. Either the SK240 or the SK370.

Step 3: Compacting the PET bottles

In a continuous process, the RUNI screw compactor both drains and compacts the PET bottles. The process is straightforward. The operator feeds the machine, either manually, via a conveyor, or with a forklift. The material then falls into the screw, which compacts the PET while squeezing out the liquid. Usually, the drained and compacted PET bottles fall into a container.

Drained and compacted PET bottles are more accessible and more sustainable to transport to a recycling plant.

Step 4: Recycling of the PET bottles

PET bottles can be recycled in 2 different ways: Via chemical and mechanical recycling. Mechanical recycling is the most widely used, as this does not pose a risk of releasing toxic substances from chemical agents that can potentially harm the environment.

When recycling PET mechanically, the goal is to obtain clean PET flakes that can be used directly or mixed with virgin polymer to produce new products.

Step 5: Transforming recycled plastic bottles into pellets 

When the compacted PET bottles arrive at a recycling plant, they are sorted and washed to remove any metals, residues, labels, and glue. Afterward, they will be sent to grinding.

After washing, the PET bottles go into a grinder. The grinder makes the bottles into small PET flakes to make them fit for recycling. When the PET bottles have been ground into flakes, they are transported into a machine that sorts the flakes by material and color. This ensures that no non-PET materials go further in the recycling system.

Step 6: Washing and decontamination

After washing and grinding, the PET-flakes will be dried and melted into long lines of PET plastic and then cut into small pellets. The pellets undergo decontamination by using nitrogen to make it food approved. Because of the decontamination step, it is possible to use PET for packaging for food and beverages once again. It could also be used for other types of bottle packaging, like cleaning supplies. This process is critical because it makes it safe to use the PET in the bottle-to-bottle loop. This needs to run very efficiently to make sure it is safe for food and beverages again.

Step 7: Reforming and reusing the PET bottles

The recycled PET pellets are then transported to manufacturers for use in the packaging industry. It is now ready to be made into new bottles. The pellets are now heated and formed into the desired size and shape. They are now ready to be reused. This is the end of the bottle-to-bottle loop.

The bottle-to-bottle loop is the ideal way of recycling PET bottles, but it is not always achievable. Sometimes, the plastic collected for recycling is not of high enough quality to be used this way again. In these instances, the recycled PET is ground into flakes and washed before undergoing heat. When heated, it is stretched into fiber used in recycled polyester. This can be used for seat belts, bags, carpets, shoes, clothing, etc.

GET STARTED!

How do you get started with the PET bottle recycling process? To make it easy, environmentally safe, and financially sustainable, your company must be able to dewater and compact PET bottles. The RUNI Screw Compactor can do this. When the PET bottles go through the screw compactor, the volume reduces by a ratio of 8:1. This makes it easier and cheaper to transport, as you will need fewer trucks to transport the compacted PET bottles. When the bottles are compacted, it is also possible to sell them for recycling.

Our solutions for PET bottles:

The company is the world’s best recycled abs plastic pellets supplier supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.

• SK240 screw compactor with an hourly capacity of 5000 units of 0,5 liter bottles. Maximum bottle size: 1 liter.
• SK370 screw compactor with an hourly capacity of 20.000 units of 0,5 liter bottles or 8000 units of 1,5 liter bottles. 
  Both the SK240 and the SK370 are also able to seperate and compact aluminum cans and Tetra-Pak. You can read more about compacting aluminum cans here and Tetra-Pak here.