Recycled Products

A successful recycling programme depends not only on collecting our empties - recyclables must also be made into products that we want to buy.

Thanks to the continued investments and innovations of manufacturers and recyclers, there is no shortage of excellent new uses for recovered PET.

End User Markets for Recycled PET

End use market	Total market size (includes virgin)		% Penetration with RPET		Tonnage used in
Year	2000	2002	2000	2002	2000	2002
Fibre - staple	474	540	15.0	35	71.0	189
Food contact containers	1111	1311	4.5	25	50.0	327
Non food contact containers	217	232	3.2	10	7.0	23
A - Sheet	125	180	14.4	20	18.0	36
Strapping	37	57	21.6	50	8.0	29
Injection Molding	94	100	5.3	10	5.0	10
Polyols	21	30	9.6	25	2.0	8
Foams
Chemical recycling					15.0	15
Totals	2079	2450	8.5	25	176	622

Staple Fibre

75% of the recovered European PET produces polyester fibres. Reprocessed flakes are melted and spun into strands. The length and thickness of the fibre determines the products made.

Fibre lengths from 5mm to 150mm are termed "staple grades" and are the largest single market. Larger diameter fibres fill anoraks, sleeping bags and soft toys.

Recycled PET is also used to spin smaller diameter fibres. These can be woven into fleece fabrics for products such as jackets and scarves. Such fabrics can contain over 95% and up to 100% recycled content.

Major outdoor clothing companies already recognise the benefits of these "recycled garments" and are introducing new ranges. A "recycled" fleece jacket uses 25 PET bottles!

Polyester fibres are being engineered to provide the same qualities as upholstery foams. 35% recycled content has been introduced to these advanced hollow "conjugated" polyester fibres.

Packaging Applications

Egg cartons and other "formed containers" account for some 8% of recycled PET usage. PET containers for toiletries and household products are able to "close the recycling loop" because bottles using a percentage of post consumer PET are being introduced in growing quantities.

In some cases the recovered PET is added into the packaging as a sandwich layer, between two layers of virgin polymer. This is known as "multi layer" technology.

Manufacturers predict multi-layer bottles can contain at least 50% recovered PET. Single layer containers can use even higher quantities of recycled material than this. All these containers remain recyclable.

Multi-layer soft drink bottles using recycled PET are on sale in a number of countries worldwide, including Switzerland and Sweden. This application is expected to spread rapidly once regulations and conditions of testing are formalised in legislation.

Industrial strapping can make use of high quality recycled PET flake. This is more common in the USA than in Europe.

Processing

Principle methods of PET recovery

PET can be recovered and re-utilised by a wide variety of methods: melt reprocessing, breaking down by de-polymerisation to precursors, purification and re-polymerisation, and recovery as energy. These methods follow the well established hierarchy of plastics recovery systems. The table illustrates the general factors which apply when considering which process is likely to be most suitable:

Degree of contamination	Recovery process	General economics of the process	Process convenience	Example of feedstocks
Low	Re-melting	Satisfactory	Simple	Refillable PET One way PET
Medium	Partial glycolysis Glycolysis Methanolysis Recovery of TA and EG	Increasing costs	Increasing complexity	Uncoated heavy guage film Fibrous waste 100% generic Coloured PET Coated PET
High	Energy	Well established costs	Relatively convenient	Laminates Coated thin guage film

Degree of contamination

Recovery process

General economics of the process

Process convenience

Example of feedstocks

Low

Re-melting

Satisfactory

Simple

Refillable PET

One way PET

Medium

Partial glycolysis

Glycolysis

Methanolysis

Recovery of TA and EG

Increasing costs

Increasing complexity

Uncoated heavy guage film

Fibrous waste 100% generic

Coloured PET

Coated PET

High

Energy

Well established costs

Relatively convenient

Laminates

Coated thin guage film

New Applications There are many developing markets for recovered PET. Polyurethane foams can be made by producing polyester polyols from PET flake. Engineering resins developed from recovered PET are injection moulded to manufacture some computer and automotive parts.

Other alternative production processes use "spunbonded" PET in the manufacture of shoe liners, webbing, geotextiles and even rucksacks.

New developments are expanding the PET market all the time. One of the latest is to produce foamed PET.