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, Entropexkbechard@entropex.comkbechard@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