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Designing Plastic Bottles to Designing Plastic Bottles to be Recyclable be Recyclable
APR Design for Recycling Guidelines APR Design for Recycling Guidelines
Keith Bechard, EntropexKeith Bechard, [email protected]@entropex.com
October 22nd, 2008
Background
The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers, APR, is the trade association for
recycling used plastic bottle.
While APR offers information in good faith,
APR does not certify or guarantee recyclability.
Plastics Bottle Recycling
• Two factors influencing recovery:
• Critical mass and • Compatibility.
Plastics Bottle Recycling
• What to recycle?
• Focus on PET and HDPE bottles because of critical mass.
• Emerging Brand Owner and chemical industry interest to recover polypropylene (PP).
Plastics Bottle Recycling
• Compatibility means:
• Minimal disruption of the recovery process and
• Minimal effect on the recycle product.
Design for Recycling Program
Design Guidelines for Plastic Bottle Recycling
Written 1997;
updated 2003, 2006, and 2008
Design for Recycling Program
Design Guidelines for Plastic Bottle Recycling
available at
plasticsrecycling.org
PET-Color
• Transparent colors: • Green & light blue OK, • Others are generally undesirable. • Some reclaimers tolerate amber
bottles.
• Avoid translucent and opaque colors
PET – PVC parts
• NO PVC closures; PVC closure liners; PVC labels (including shrink
labels); PVC sleeves (shrink sleeves) and PVC safety seals on PET bottles.
PET – labels
• Only FLOATING labels, please• Paper labels undesirable • “See through” full body sleeve
for autosortation
PET – closures
• All closures MUST float in water.
• PP closures preferred. (no ‘mineral filled’ PP, please)
PET – inks and adhesives
• Adhesives release in hot water.
• No adhesive residue on PET • Avoid inks that bleed in hot
water
PET – direct printing
• Only date coding, please.• No direct print label.
(less common today)
PET – barrier layers, coatings, & additives-1
• Avoid additives that discolor and/or haze PET after remelting.
No yellowing, please
PET – barrier layers, coatings, & additives-2
• Blends of PET and other resins are acceptable
if they are compatible with PET
recycling.
(few are)
PET – barrier layers, coatings, & additives-3
• Non-PET layers and coatings are acceptable, if they are compatible with PET oreasily separate from PET in conventional recycling systems.
PET – barrier layers, coatings, & additives-4
• EVOH, nylons, carbon, and silicon oxide barrier layers or coatings are currently tolerated provided
the layers/coatings readily separate and can be isolated or have been shown not to be a problem.
PET - attachments
• Attachments discouraged;
• RFID’s on bottles discouraged. (Silver paint could be a health
problem)
PET – recycled content
• Use postconsumerpostconsumer PET in bottles.
Copolymer HDPE
• Non-HDPE components should be compatible with the base resin (copolymer HDPE)
or easily removed (sink in
water).
Copolymer HDPE – closures & attachments
• HDPE preferred;• No PVC closures or closure
liners; • PP closures and attachments
at 5% or less of package weight;
• RFID’s on bottles discouraged.
Copolymer HDPE – labels
• Paper labels are undesirable; • Shrink sleeve labels preferred,
no adhesive and• “See through” full body sleeve
for autosortation (opaque labels problematic)
Copolymer HDPE – inks and adhesives
• “Hot melt” adhesives should readily separate from the
plastic and does not cause problems to the process or product.
Copolymer HDPE -layers
• Avoid non-HDPE layers, unless they are compatible or easily separable
• Minimize EVOH or nylon layers.
Copolymer HDPE -additives
• Limit additives, such as calcium carbonate, so the HDPE plastic still floats in water;
• (max CaCO3 under 3%).
HDPE – natural and pigmented Recycled Content
• Use postconsumerpostconsumer HDPE in bottles.
Polypropylene
• Any non-PP component of a bottle should be compatible with the base resin (PP) or removed efficiently in conventional separation systems.
Polypropylene - color
• Unpigmented PP bottles are generally preferred.
Polypropylene - attachments
• PVC is undesirable;• HDPE or LDPE attachments
should be less than 5% of the bottle weight
PVC bottles
• PVC bottles are undesirable IF bottles are included with bales of PET or HDPE bottles.
PVC bottles
• APR recommends the following:
Avoid PET attachments; Closures of polyolefin; Labels of PVC or polyolefin, not PET; No bleeding inks
Other Resins
• For established infrastructure, bottles made from resins other than PET or HDPE will generally introduce contamination
• unless compatibility demonstrated or separation assured.
Other Resins
• New bottle resins should follow the same general recycling guidelines established for other resin types.
Other Resins
• Unpigmented bottles best;• PE or PP label and closures; • Compatible or readily
separable attachments, layers, and additives;
• Postconsumer content encouraged.
Other ResinsTo be recycled as that resin, need
1. At least 50 M lbs collected (which has meant at least 200 M lbs in market);
2. Need uniform collected material;3. Need efficient recycling process and4. Need end market to offset recovery.
Design for Recycling Program
Design Guidelines for Plastic Bottle Recycling
available at
plasticsrecycling.org
“Sustainable means recycling.Plastics recycling means APR”
www.plasticsrecycling.org