Petcore announces study results.

Petcore, a European non-profit trade association fostering the economic collection, recovery and recycling of post-consumer PET containers in Europe, has released the results of its test on recyclable barrier technology.

Last year Petcore published its "Guidelines and Test Protocols" for additives and barrier materials, which assesses the recycling properties of these technologies. Beverages such as fruit juices, dairy products, beer and even some carbonated soft drinks rely on enhanced barrier properties now available. Petcore's guidelines offer product developers a tool to assess the recyclability profile of their barrier solutions.

The first results are available and show that the Glaskin and Bestpet barrier materials passed the tests.

Dr. A. Opschoor, technical director and member of Petcore's Expert Evaluation Committee, says, "Products that pass this rigorous test regime can be recycled using existing recycling practices without any difficulties."

Petcore's Expert Evaluation Committee has also reached a verdict on shrink and stretch sleeves. "Sleeves are a fantastic tool for brand owners to expand their abilities to reach out to their consumers," Opschoor says. "However, using the wrong materials could also render the PET container utterly un-recyclable."

In light of its test results, Petcore has urged that oriented polystyrene (OPS) sleeves should be banned from the European PET bottle market. Frank Koelewijn, director general of Petcore, places this decision in the context of current recycling practices. "OPS sinks in water float-sink tanks used in PET recycling processes, together with the PET flakes. From then on, it becomes very difficult to remove OPS," he says.

"Experiences during spinning and blow molding of recycled PET where OPS was present resulted in noxious fumes, and workers refused to process the material. That shut the door," Koelewijn adds.

According to Petcore, PET recycling processes in Europe differ from those in the United States and Japan. Virtually all European plants use wet grinding, making it very difficult to sort out those polymer films and labels that do not float in water. In the United States and in Japan, most PET recycling plants are based on dry grinding processes, making it relatively easy to remove the films from the PET using air separation.