Design Guide For PET Bottle Recyclabilit

Design Guide for
PET Bottle Recyclability
Written by: Cees van Dongen - Coca-Cola Europe

Robert Dvorak / Ed Kosior - Nextek Ltd
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UNESDA is the Union of European Beverages Association Its members are soft drinks
companies who conduct their business in at least five EU Member States and also national
associations from across the EU27 and beyond. Our mission is to support the growth,
development and understanding of non-alcoholic beverages at a European level.
www.unesda.org
EFBW - The European Federation of Bottled Waters is a non-profit international trade

association based in Brussels. Our members are national associations and companies
representing the interests of over 500 producers of bottled waters across Europe. EFBW works
closely with European and international institutions which regulate on bottled water, including
the European Commission and Codex Alimentarius. www.efbw.org
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Background
The growth in processing post consumer PET bottles for high-end bottle-to-bottle application
necessitates that we review and update policies to ensure that our stringent quality standards
will continue to be met in the future.
The challenge is to maintain availability of high quality material that will, in turn, enable us to
use recycled content in bottles without discolouration and other visual defects. The quality of
recycled material over time is deteriorating through the increased use of additives, barrier
materials, glues, sleeves and other components and materials.
Following recent resolutions in the Boards of UNESDA and EFBW to work towards a PET
bottle recyclability Code of Conduct for its respective members, an agreed next step is to
review their current and new PET bottle specifications against the guidelines for resource
efficient PET recyclate to prevent and resolve issues of non-compatibility over the next two
years.
The aim of these guidelines - a set of specific criteria and recommendations – based on
current practice, recycler capabilities and the Design for Recycling Guidelines developed by
the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP), following surveys and questionnaires to members to
identify problem areas - is also to reach as many companies as possible, not just UNESDA
and EFBW members, and encourage them to achieve compliance with the guidelines by the
end of 2012.
Also, aiming to broaden the initiative to all parties that play a decisive role in maintaining the
highest possible quality of recycled bottles, we call upon other brand owners and holders of
private labels to act likewise.
Another important aim of the guidelines is to encourage companies that design and market
materials and components intended to be used in PET bottles to apply the principle of due
diligence. We encourage them to bring their products to the European PET Bottle Platform so
as to obtain an objective third party assessment of the impact on recyclability of their
products.
Guideline details
The guidelines, which have been developed over the past year, cover specifications and
recommended design options for the body, label and cap of the bottle. All materials must
meet the legal requirements for materials and articles intended to come into contact with
food.
We believe that these guidelines are in reach of every company. They are a reflection of the
average recycler capability and try to strike a balance between resource efficiency, the need
for innovation and shelf differentiation and recycling practices in Europe.
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Executive Summary
These guidelines for the design of PET bottles define their ease of recyclability based on
choices of colour, barrier layers, closures and label systems and establish criteria that can be
used to avoid the production of difficult to recycle bottles to ensure a greater supply of high
quality rPET to the market.
There are many resources available to packaging designers and PET bottle specifiers that
allow them to ensure that any design decisions ensure recyclability of PET bottles back into
high quality RPET resins that can be used back into bottles as part of closed loop recycling.
This report provides links to key documentation, reports and organisations that have
developed and specify protocols that determine the impact of PET bottles and components
on the PET recycling stream.
A decision making matrix has been developed by Nextek to help categorise the impacts on
recyclability of PET bottle packaging. This table, based on the Design for Recycling Guidelines
issued by PETCORE and EPBP is not an exhaustive list, but it does provide guidance on items
that are Recycle Friendly or Problematic for Recycling .
PET BOTTLE RECYCLE FRIENDLY CONDITIONAL PROBLEMATIC FOR RECYCLING

Colourants, fillers Clear / natural Dark blue / black if NIR detectable Non-detectable Dark, opaque, metallic,
and additives Light (blue or green) tints Dark green and brown solid colourants
Optical brighteners Any use of fillers.
O2 scavengers; Nanocomposite barrier fillers
UV stabilisers; Bio/Oxo/Photo Degradable Additives
AA blockers
Barrier coatings Clear plasma coatings e.g. CVD PEN / Amosorb / MXD6 barrier EVOH >3% in multilayer
Blended barrier SiOx, Monox multilayer (if <3% total bottle Amosorb, MXD6 > 5% in multilayer
resins & barrier Other layered barrier materials weight) Any direct blended barrier based on ie
layers that separate and do not cause EVOH, MXD6
yellowing
Closures HDPE / LDPE / PP - Materials density > 1 g/cm3 Metals / PS /
PVC
Closure liners HDPE / PE+EVA / PP / Foamed Paper / silicone swimming valves Neck Foils Metal / PVC / EVA Silicone
and seals Silicone / PET (density <1g/cm3) (density > 1 g/cm3)
Labels HDPE / MDPE / LDPE / LLDPE / PP Wraparound paper labels Pressure sensitive / self-adhesive labels.
/ OPP / EPS Metallic foils PVC / PS / metallised.
Wraparound plastic
Inks Non toxic Inks that bleed, toxic or hazardous; react
Follows EUPIA Guidelines with PET
Direct Printing Laser marked production or expiry Ink direct printed production or Any other direct printing
date expiry date Large areas direct printed
Sleeves PE / PP / OPP / EPS / foamed PET Shrink sleeves with perforations and PVC / PS / PET-G, other materials with
& PET-G (Density < 1g/cm3). revealing a significant % of PET density > 1 g/cm3.
PE Stretch Sleeves bottle; Full body PET shrink sleeves Difficult to remove and/or NIR sort with
Shrink sleeves with perforations heavy ink coverage.
and revealing a significant % of
the bottle.
Adhesives Water soluble in 60 – 80C Strong adhesives with paper labels Water insoluble (even at elevated
Plastic wrap, Minimal glue strip temperatures and pH levels)
(e.g. lap join).
Comply with EuPR guidelines
Base cups No base cup HDPE / PP / clear PET Coloured PET and other plastics density >
1 g/cm3
Bottle Size Diameter > 50mm, Diameter 40 -50mm Diameter < 30mm,
Other Length > 100mm Length < 100mm.
components Any polymer components with density > 1
g/cm3; PVC / PLA / PS / PETG
RFID tags
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Table of contents
1.0 Introduction and Objectives ..........................................................................................................................6
2.0 Benefits of Adopting these Guidelines ........................................................................................................ 7
2.1 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Savings .................................................................................................................................. 7
2.2 Quality and Consistency of rPET in Closed Loop Applications .................................................................... 7
3.0 Recycling in Context .......................................................................................................................................7
4.0 Principles of Designing for PET Bottle Recyclability .................................................................................8
4.1 Key Steps in a Typical PET Recycling Operation ................................................................................................. 8
Maximum Flake size: 12 mm ..................................................................................................................................... 10
5.0 Bottles – Why Size Matters ........................................................................................................................ 10
6.0 Bottle materials, colourants and additives .............................................................................................. 11
6.1 Bottle Materials ................................................................................................................................................................. 11
6.2 PLA Bottles .......................................................................................................................................................................... 12
6.3 PVC & PS Bottles ............................................................................................................................................................. 14
6.4 Clarified PP Materials for Bottles ............................................................................................................................. 14
6.5 PET Colourants & Fillers ............................................................................................................................................... 14
6.6 Direct Printing on PET Bottles ................................................................................................................................... 15
7.0 Closures (closure liners & seals) ................................................................................................................ 16
7.1 Closure Liners and Seals .............................................................................................................................................. 16
8.0 Labelling systems & materials ................................................................................................................... 17
8.1 Paper Labels ....................................................................................................................................................................... 17
9.0 Sleeving systems .......................................................................................................................................... 18
9.1 Sorting of Coloured Shrink Sleeves. ....................................................................................................................... 18
10.0 Label adhesives ............................................................................................................................................. 20
11.0 Barrier systems (coatings, additives, layers) ........................................................................................... 21
11.1 Bio-Oxo-Photo-Degradable Additives ................................................................................................................... 22
12.0 Other Bottle Packaging Components ....................................................................................................... 23
12.1 Other Components ......................................................................................................................................................... 23
12.2 Base Cups ............................................................................................................................................................................ 23
13.0 PET Bottle Recyclability Decision Matrix.................................................................................................. 24
14.0 Contaminants in rPET from poorly designed bottle packaging .......................................................... 25
15.0 Test Protocols for Recyclability ................................................................................................................. 26
15.1 PET Flake Oven Age test .............................................................................................................................................. 26
15.2 Sink Float Separation Test Protocols ..................................................................................................................... 26
15.3 Adhesives – Glue Separation & Removal Test Protocols ............................................................................ 27
15.4 Sorting Tests....................................................................................................................................................................... 27
16.0 Conclusions.................................................................................................................................................... 30
17.0 Key Links, Reports & Organisations ......................................................................................................... 31
17.1 European PET Bottle Platform ................................................................................................................................... 32
17.2 PETCORE ............................................................................................................................................................................... 33
17.3 APR.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 33
17.4 NAPCOR ............................................................................................................................................................................... 34
17.5 UK – WRAP & BRC On-Pack Labelling Scheme for Packaging ................................................................ 34
18.0 References ..................................................................................................................................................... 36
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1.0 Introduction and Objectives
The objective of this report is to provide guidelines for PET bottle recyclability and to
overview the technical and design related aspects that can negatively impact the recycling of
PET bottles. The recycled PET (RPET) market in the European Union (EU) is still developing and
issues such as material availability and input material quality have the ability to undermine the
market s potential growth in closed loop (PET) bottle-to-bottle recycling applications. The
potential to recycle bottles back into high-end applications such as bottles can be
compromised by many factors including the choice of bottle colour, bottle size, barrier layers,
closures composition, and label systems.
These guidelines provide a framework for the design of PET bottles and define the ease of
recyclability based on choices of colour, barrier layers, closures and label system types and
establish criteria that can be used to avoid the development and production of difficult to
recycle bottles to ensure a greater supply of high quality rPET to the market.
 The purpose is to inform packaging designers of recycling processes and provide a

detailed technical description that allows PET bottle designers clearly understand what
recyclers want, expect and the do's and don ts.
 The aim is to provide clear guidance on how to prevent contamination of the clear/light
blue bottle stream that potentially can end up in bottle-to-bottle recycling for both new
pack designs as well as to allow a redesign of problematic existing bottles and their
specifications.
These guidelines also aim to establish a decision making mechanism for the design and
approval of PET bottles by defining the recyclability of PET bottle packaging materials and its
components but also by providing guidance on the use of materials and components that
need to be restricted because of their potential for detrimental contamination of PET recyclate
and interfere with current PET recycling processes.
The information provided in these guidelines will also allow for improved communication
between key department stakeholders such as sales, marketing, technical and packaging
designers and allow them to clearly discuss the potential impacts on recycling of current and
future developments in PET bottle packaging.
The following guidelines are therefore aimed at ensuring that PET bottle packaging released
into the EU markets is specified and designed in such a way as to maximise the potential for
the packaging to be efficiently recycled with minimal impact on the economics of existing
recycling operations and the environment.
The guidelines are aimed at providing up-to-date, consistent industry advice to those who
specify PET bottles and decide on the details of the packaging being used. It will also help
inform brand, marketing and design functions about the impact of their selections and design
on the recyclability of the (new) PET bottle packaging.
Given that new materials are constantly being developed and packaging and recycling
technologies are also evolving, there is of course a need to periodically review and update
these guidelines.
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2.0 Benefits of Adopting these Guidelines
By adopting these guidelines across the PET bottle supply chain a number of benefits can be
realised. These guidelines can form the basis for inhouse bottle recyclability assessments, help
designers make better informed decisions about recyclability and can become a means for
PET bottlers, brand owners to approve new PET bottles. Like many sustainable initiatives, this
approach is not only best practice for PET recycling but also is inherently good business
practice to minimise resource use.
2.1 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Savings

Due to the threat of climate change, the impact of packaging on global warming is being
carefully considered by governments, brand owners, industry and community
environmental groups. In the UK, Coca-Cola Great Britain (CCGB) and Coca-Cola
Enterprises (CCE) have been working together with the Carbon Trust and have measured
and calculated the carbon footprints of Coca-Cola , diet Coke and Coke Zero , covering
the emissions generated from cradle to grave. The research illustrated that packaging
accounts for between 30-”0% of the drink s carbon footprint and highlighted the
importance of using recycled content and of encouraging recycling post use. The study
found that a combination of these two factors can decrease the overall carbon footprint of
a product by up to 60%. (BSDA, 2009)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the benefits of recycling packaging by WRAP in the UK has
found that for every kilogram of recycled PET that is substituted for virgin PET, 1.5
kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2) is saved (WRAP, 2006).
2.2 Quality and Consistency of rPET in Closed Loop Applications

PET bottles with ideal design characteristics will help the PET recycling industry improve
the quality and consistency of supply of RPET and also improve the efficiency of closed
loop PET recycling by minimising yield losses. These improvements will allow greater rates
of usage of RPET back into closed loop PET packaging applications and lead to fewer
defects in PET bottles due to contaminants. Recyclability should have no detrimental effect
on bottle lightweighting initiatives, new designs for bottles shapes or best in class
developments.
3.0 Recycling in Context

The recyclability of PET bottle packaging is not the only aspect that should be considered
when assessing the environmental impact of packaging and products. Packaging optimisation,
efficient delivery, use of recycled content and reusability are all key aspects to be assessed
and incorporated into an overall new PET bottle design strategy.
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Improving the consistency and degree of PET bottle recyclability is however very important as
it has significant direct and indirect impacts, including:
 PET recyclate quality and end market opportunities,
 Consistent supply of high quality PET recyclate back into closed loop packaging,
 Economic efficiency of collection, recycling and reprocessing operations.
The PET bottle industry has made significant resource efficiency steps forward through
continual lightweighting and these guidelines are designed to complement these initiatives
and not to hamper further innovations in lightweighting.
4.0 Principles of Designing for PET Bottle Recyclability

There is a number of key overarching principles that are appropriate for all PET bottles. These
include:
 Design for ease of separation and removal of materials such as closures and labels
from PET bottles to allow for ease and efficiency of recycling;
 Avoidance of using materials that are known to significantly contaminate and reduce
quality of PET;
 Use of fewer packaging materials on PET bottles to allow for ease and efficiency of
recycling.
4.1 Key Steps in a Typical PET Recycling Operation

A: Accept flattened PET bottles in Bales
B: De-bale into single bottles

C: Remove small objects, glass, dirt, sand, loose caps, etc. via a trommel separator
D: Remove loose labels and films and other flexible packaging via ballistic separators or
hydrocyclones
E: Remove ferrous and non-ferrous metals via magnets and eddy current systems
F: Sort into plastic type i.e. 100% PET by NIR/Optical automatic and manual sorters
G: Cut bottles into 10 mm flakes in a grinder

H: Wash flakes in hot water with detergents and caustic
I: Sink float density separation of PET and closures
J: Remove loose labels and dusty particles via hydrocyclones

K: Sort out coloured flakes away from clear flakes via optical sorters
L: Decontaminate the clear PET flakes by:
a. Decontamination, extrusion and melt-filtration of flakes into granules
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b. Solid-state (in hot gas 200oC for 4-6 hours) PET granules to decontaminate
and increase the intrinsic viscosity (IV) by advancing the degree of
polymerisation.
Mechanical recycling processes rely on sorting techniques using near-infrared (NIR)

spectroscopy to separate whole bottles, with water based washing and separating
processes also being applied. The objective is to clean and separate the different
material fractions or plastic types. The processes use differences in the density of the
materials for separation in water. Magnetic and inductive metal separators are also
employed. Materials which cannot be separated or separate incompletely remain with
the recyclate and can impair the quality of the final product. The recycling process is
therefore a step by step purification process that starts with commingled and often
dirty and mixed bottle feedstock s and ends up with washed and cleaned flake that
has been sorted to >99.9% PET purity. When the flake has reached sufficiently
acceptable purity it is ready to be decontaminated and extruded back into granules in
most of the commonly applied processes.
Figure 1. An example of density and softening temperature range for common packaging plastics
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Figure 2. An example of a typical specification for flake purity
Property Specification
Maximum Flake size: 12 mm 95% < 12 mm
Fines (< 0.5mm or 30 mesh) < 0.3%
Material source Food grade Source (1)
Intrinsic viscosity according to ASTM D4603-96 0.76 +/- 0.02
Flake Color YI 19 max. (2)
a -
b 9 max. (2)
b 4 max. (3)
Bulk Density 300-500 kg/m3
Moisture < 0.7%
PVC < 5 ppm
Metal (aluminum, steel) < 5 ppm
Polyolefins ( HDPE, PP, LDPE,…) < 50 ppm
PH rise < 0.5
The following sections of this report are aimed at helping packaging designers, technologists,
and other specifiers that design new packaging to ensure that it is highly recyclable and for
these guidelines to act as an advisory tool when redesigning or updating existing packaging.
5.0 Bottles – Why Size Matters

The diameter and size of a PET bottle are important for the purpose of recovery and also to
ensure that they can effectively be ejected during sorting stages.
Small PET bottles that are typically used

for single serve drinks can be lost in
openings in trommels that are designed
to remove small contaminant particles.
Trommel screen sizes vary between 30-

50mm and can be square, rectangular or
circular in shape.
For this reason it is best that bottles have

a diameter greater than 50mm and
length greater 100mm. This size will
prevent the bottles from becoming lost
to the recycling process.
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Bottles that have a diameter of 40-50mm are highly likely to fall through openings in trommel
screens and at most Plastic Recycling Facilities (PRFs) will end up being sent to landfill. Whilst
some recycling plants in countries such as Austria, Belgium, France and Germany are designed
to double sort and recover any lost PET products that are removed by the trommel screens,
the majority of recycling plants don t have facilities to resort or have not been designed to do
that. Therefore any small PET bottles that fall through the trommel screens are lost from the
recycling stream and end up going directly to landfill.
Small bottles are also more difficult to eject due to the smaller surface area that air jets can
hit. NIR and optical sorting units use very short bursts of pressurised air to eject and remove
PET bottles by polymer type and colour type into designated hoppers.
Therefore in summary, PET bottles with small diameters < 40mm could be lost to waste
during initial stages of PET recycling when caps and glass are being removed. It is
recommended that a minimum diameter of >50mm is used. PET bottles that are shorter than
100mm may not be identified as PET bottles in automatic sorting systems, due to the
resolution used on some detectors.
Bottle Size
Recycle Friendly Conditional Problematic for Recycling
Bottle Diameter > 50mm Bottle Diameter 40-50mm Bottle Diameter < 30mm
Bottle Length > 100mm Bottle Length < 100mm Bottle Length < 100mm
6.0 Bottle materials, colourants and additives
6.1 Bottle Materials

PET bottle materials specified and used by brand owners in principle should be bottle
grade PET. Different grades of PET that have slightly different intrinsic viscosities such as
those used for water, hot-fill and carbonated do not affect recyclability. It is neither the
aim of these guidelines to challenge the choice for PET or any alternative materials under
development nor to stifle innovation.
New development in plant based PET has no impact on the recycling stream, as the PET
material has not changed. The only change has been that the source of ethylene is plant
based, however the resin is polymerised and manufactured in exactly the same way,
therefore if traditional PET and plant based PET is mixed in the recycling it will not cause
any problems as there will be no difference in the materials. The development in the PET
PlantBottle resin now in use or planned to be in use by companies like Coca-Cola,
Danone and Heinz has been well communicated to the packaging and recycling industry
as can be seen in the following diagram.
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Figure 3. Example of a well communicated change in PET resin with no impact on recycling of PET
bottles
6.2 PLA Bottles

Materials that closely resemble PET such as PLA will cause significant problems in the PET
recycling stream even at very low levels (<0.1%). NIR sorting technology is currently the
only viable method for separation of PLA products from the PET recycle stream. However if
PLA becomes present in the PET stream in increased levels it is expected that yields of
recycled PET will be reduced. The sorting costs for most recycling plants are expected to
increase by approximately €1 million per plant. The volume of recovered PLA will initially
be small whilst PET recovery will continue to increase from its current levels of 1.3 million
tonnes. Any separated PLA will be ejected as waste and mixed with PVC and PS. PLA has a
low melting point and will start to soften at 60 deg C and melt at temperatures above 170
deg C to form a low viscosity glue . PLA flakes in the PET stream become tacky at PLA s
glass transition temperature. PET is dried at temperatures of 160C for periods of 4-6
hours. PLA will melt during air drying or flake decontamination creating flake clusters and
in some cases situations many flakes stuck together stopping flow, resulting in a blocked
or Solid Dryer. These clumps can result in sever blockages of outlets and also at
restricted areas such the feed throats of extrusion systems.
During processing, PLA is incompatible in PET and will form a separate phase in the PET
resin. This will mean:
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 PLA causes haziness in RPET products
 PLA affects PET reprocessing equipment
 Sticking of PET pellets in crystalliser or dryer
due to exclusion of PLA from the
crystallisation of PET
 Recycling infrastructure for PLA recovery or
recycling is limited PLA bottles are only
compostable in industrial composting
systems NOT in home composters
 PLA is difficult & costly to separate from PET
and increases PET recyclate losses
 NAPCOR & PETCORE have rejected the
recycling of PLA along with PET
A recent evaluation report commissioned by Petcore has found that PLA in RPET at levels
even lower than 0.1% (1 bottle in a 1,000) will make any RPET resin unsuitable for most
applications and thus dramatically reduces PET s recycle value (Petcore, 200‟).
Figure 4. An example of PET plaques showing haze (crystallinity) and discolouration due to PLA
contamination (Where: Sample C = 0% PLA i.e. control and Sample D = 1% PLA test (Source: PTI Europe,
2006)
Currently the presence of PLA products in the recycling stream can be considered to be
somewhat analogous to the presence of PVC. Similar to PVC, PLA can visually appear to
be very similar to PET and it is not separated from PET in a float/sink stage. Consequently
at even low levels it will cause significant loss of properties and performance of the final
recycled PET material. This scenario is distinguished from Polypropylene or Polyethylene
products where PP and PE containers are readily separated from PET with very high
efficiency by NIR sorting and also by virtue of their lower density in the sink-float density
separation process.
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6.3 PVC & PS Bottles
Materials such as PVC and PS should not be used under any circumstances for bottle packaging. PVC
and PS sink together with PET in wash and sink-float tanks and are difficult to eliminate.
PVC degrades at the temperatures that PET is processed and evolves hydrochloric acid gas,
which is corrosive and attacks PET polymer chains causing chain scission and degradation
as well as corroding processing equipment. Small amounts of PVC can significantly reduce
the intrinsic viscosity of PET. Due to the degradation caused by PVC, RPET resins become
discoloured to unacceptable yellow or dark brown colour and the dechlorinated PVC
becomes brittle and creates black specs within the RPET resin.
6.4 Clarified PP Materials for Bottles

PP bottles are already present in the market place, but currently don t compete with PET in
the food and beverage market. PP resin is primarily used for household, personal care and
industrial containers. PP does not have negative impacts on the PET recycle stream and
recycling processes as it can effectively separated via a combination of NIR sorting and
density (sink-float) separation techniques.
Bottle Material
PET N/A PLA
RPET PVC
PS
6.5 PET Colourants & Fillers

The recovery of clear PET facilitates the creation of the highest value recyclate and typically
allows for closed loop bottle-to-bottle recycling.
The use of colourants should be minimised as much as possible. Translucent tints that are
very light shades of blue or green are acceptable, as these colours alter the colour of
recycled PET in a minor way and help to offset any yellowing that may occur during the
recycling process. Strong tints for example mid to dark-blue, green and brown should be
avoided whenever possible.
Where strong colours are contemplated for shelf appeal then consider using alternative
methods like sleeves, however these must be easily separated from the bottle prior to any
automatic sorting operations. (Please see section 9). Tints are always preferable to opaque
colours as they can become dispersed and do not cause haziness in recycled PET as
opaque colours do.
Black colour should be avoided where possible. Black coloured plastics are difficult to sort
unless the black colourant is NIR detectable. Very small amounts of black colourant can
significantly discolour a stream of clear / light blue PET recyclate.
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 Coloured PET waste has a lower monetary value than clear (typically 50% lower).
 The use of strongly pigmented bottles (black, white and colours) has a significant
negative impact on the quality of recycled PET since presence of small amounts of
coloured fragments can discolour recycled PET during extrusion.
 The presence of coloured PET also increases the losses of clear/light blue PET during
flake sorting as for every coloured PET flake a clear PET flake is typically lost.
Fillers or masterbatch additives for example titanium dioxide, that can be used for opacity
or for lowering the cost and polymer content of the plastic should be avoided or their use
minimised. Fillers can change the density of the plastic and can also contaminate the
recycled PET stream and impact the clarity of the rPET resin.
Bottle Colourants & Fillers

Clear / natural Dark green, brown blue Non-detectable Dark,
Light (blue or / black if NIR detectable opaque, metallic, solid
green) tints Optical brighteners colourants
O2 scavengers; Any use of fillers.
UV stabilisers; Nanocomposite barrier
AA blockers fillers
Bio/Oxo/Photo
Degradable Additives
6.6 Direct Printing on PET Bottles

In the context of a growing interest for its application, direct printing of PET bottles should
be avoided. If direct printing on PET bottles is being considered, then only colours and
inks that are removable under hot wash conditions should be used. Any remaining ink on
bottle or flake surface will discolour recycled PET resin during extrusion and is likely to be
difficult to sort as printed PET bottles/flakes may still appear transparent to sensors
depending on level of ink coverage.
Inks (Direct print)

Laser marked production or Ink direct printed production Any other direct printing
expiry date or expiry date Large areas direct printed
Label inks are non toxic Inks that bleed, toxic or
Follow EUPIA Guidelines hazardous; react with PET
Inks used on labels and sleeves should not bleed into water (inc. caustic hot-wash at 80C).
The EUPIA have published guidelines on inks that can be used on plastic packaging and
that are not hazardous or toxic and therefore do not introduce hazardous substances into
recycled materials. The APR has developed test protocols for testing labels and sleeves for
ink bleeding.
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Inks on Labels & Sleeves

Label inks are non toxic Inks that bleed, toxic or
Follow EUPIA Guidelines hazardous; react with PET
7.0 Closures (closure liners & seals)

Closures should not interfere with the recycling process and should be recyclable themselves.
Ideally polymers with densities less than water i.e. <1g / cm3 should be used e.g. PP, HDPE /
LDPE.
Metal closures should be avoided particularly those with retained tamper evident rings, as
these can get carried though the whole recycling process and leave residual metal particles in
the final rPET product.
7.1 Closure Liners and Seals

Closures with no liners are preferred for ease of recycling.
Liners where necessary should be retained within the closure and be made of PE, EVA or
PP and have a density less than that of water i.e.<1 g/cm3 so that they can be easily
separated by sink/float separation processes. It is highly recommended that PVC liners
should not be used due to its decomposition into acidic residues in the recycling process
will generate black specks in the resin as PVC degrades at the processing temperatures
used for PET. PVC degrades to carbon char giving off hydrochloric acid (HCl) in the
process. The HCl also breaks down the polymer chain length or Intrinsic Viscosity (IV) of
PET and corrodes metal processing equipment.
Foil safety seals that leave remnants of foil and / or adhesives should be avoided.
Sports cap seals should be made from elastomeric materials such as EVA (density <
1g/cm3). Silicone rubber with a density > 1 g/cm3 should be avoided, the silicon can often
be separated from the closure during grinding. Natural coloured silicone is particularly
difficult to separate from rPET due to the similar colour of the flakes. Newly developed
floating silicone valves or foamed silicone valves that have a density lower than 1 g/cm3
are acceptable and should not impact PET bottle recycling.
The Technical Committee of the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) has evaluated the
effect of APTAR Food+Beverage closures containing a silicone valve with a density of 0,95
g/cm3 on the quality of recycled PET. Data supplied from tests carried out demonstrated
that APTAR silicone valves floated on the washing water, and were thus removed during
the sink-float step. The resultant recycled PET flakes did not contain any silicone.
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The EPBP concluded that APTAR Food+Beverage swimming silicone valve with a density
less than or equal to 0,95 g/cm3 will have no negative impact on current European PET
recycling (EPBP, 2010).
Therefore, all materials with a density greater than 1 g/cm3 will sink along with the PET
flakes in a sink/float separation unit and will therefore be carried through the process
ultimately contaminating the PET. Materials with a density of less than 1 g/cm 3 will float
and are removed from the system with the lighter olefinic fraction.
Closure Liners & Seals

HDPE / LDPE / PP Materials density > 1 g/cm3
Metals / PS / PVC
HDPE / PE+EVA / PP Paper / silicone swimming Neck Foils Metal / PVC / EVA
Foamed Silicone / PET valves (density <1g/cm3) Silicone (density > 1 g/cm3)
8.0 Labelling systems & materials

Labels should be able to physically detach from the bottle and separate from the PET flakes
by specific gravity in flotation tanks or air separators. They should not leave adhesive residues
on the bottles.
Labels which best do this in the recycling process are orientated polypropylene (OPP) roll-fed
labels that use a minimal amount of adhesive and expose a significant portion of the PET
bottle are most acceptable.
Metallised or foil labels should be avoided as they may cause the bottle to be ejected to
waste by metal detectors; labels with deposition techniques that provide a very thin layer of
metal may be acceptable but need validation. Metallised paper labels although not ideal, are
always preferred to decorative and safety foils often used on bottles together with labels.
If decoration or safety/tamper proof evidence is needed it is best to use polyolefin based
stretch sleeves or paper labels. PS / PVC and PLA shrink sleeves should not be used.
8.1 Paper Labels

Paper labels become wet and are often readily removable from PET bottles. However the
removal efficiency is highly dependent on the types of adhesives used on the paper label.
Any paper fibre that remains stuck on the PET flake will burn during drying and extrusion
and will contaminate the RPET granules with black specs from the carbonised paper fibre
residues.
The use of self-adhesive or pressure sensitive paper labels is less desirable as remaining
paper fibres can lead to surface defects and very small, sometimes microscopic holes
known as pinholes during blow-moulding of bottles using the recyclate.
17
Labelling Systems & Materials
HDPE / MDPE / LDPE / LLDPE Wraparound paper labels Pressure sensitive / self-
/ PP / OPP / EPS Metallic foils adhesive labels. PVC / PS /
Wraparound plastic metallised.
9.0 Sleeving systems

LDPE stretch sleeves that cover less than 40% of the length of the bottle body are the best
choice and very acceptable to recycling. Stretch sleeves don t need to be heated and save
energy. Stretch sleeves provide good print characteristics and being PE based, once
granulated, are readily removed during sink-float and hydrocyclone density separation stages.
Full body shrink sleeves should ideally be made from OPP (the performance of PE stretch
sleeves has improved) and still reveal a significant amount of the base PET bottle to allow
near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic identification by automatic sorting systems. Some NIR
systems have specific programmes that can recognise fully sleeved bottles of a particular type,
pattern or print.
Overall, sleeves should be designed to be readily removable in recycling processes i.e.

perforated, so that they are dislodged from the PET bottles during the collection, baling and
debaling processes in the recycling operations.
Shrink sleeves from Polystyrene, PLA, PET-G and PVC (which sink in water along with PET
bottle flake i.e. density >1 g/cm3) should be avoided. PVC is particularly harmful to PET
recycling processes as mentioned above.
The thickness of shrink sleeves can affect NIR sorting and should typically be kept to less than
40-50 micron thickness.
Many bottle manufacturers and brand owners still use sleeves that are made from PET and in
some cases blends of OPS/PET. PVC shrink sleeves are still also used by several manufacturers.
Both PVC and OPS are harmful to PET recycling and further due to them being printed the
PET sleeves can also contaminate clear PET flake if they end up in the extruder the ink will
discolour the RPET and also become dispersed within the RPET resin, potentially
contaminating with ink solvents and other chemicals.
9.1 Sorting of Coloured Shrink Sleeves.

Coloured shrink sleeves still allow a container to be identified as PET, however due to the
sleeve being coloured a clear PET bottle is often sorted into a coloured stream and
therefore lost to recycling back into bottles or sheet. This is because the optical sensor will
view a bottle with a coloured shrink sleeve as a coloured bottle even though the bottle is
actually clear. If shrink sleeves need to be used, designers should carefully consider
18
material type and also perforated shrink sleeves which more easily tear during baling and
debaling and expose a section of clear PET bottle surface to the optical colour sorters.
It is possible to teach and train sensors to optimise recovery of sleeved items and
programmes exist to do this. However it is recommended that PET bottles with full body
coloured sleeves include modifications to help recyclers recover this stream into the clear
PET fraction. Some suggestions include:
 Some sleeve types can be designed to come off the packaging items during the
debaling process.
 Sleeves can be designed to have a few clear sections to help sort items into
clear/natural stream, or
 Sleeves can be designed to be removed via design features such as perforations,
which tear during baling/debaling and expose natural surface of the packaging item.
Sleeves are then removed by air classifiers.
 Sleeves can be manufactured with specific markers that could be used to positively
identify the item into clear/natural streams, this approach is very useful when a large
volume of this sleeve type is expected in the market place.
A recent review of many MRF s and PRF s by Nextek showed that often they are currently
missing the opportunity to recover greater value from what are clear PET bottles that are
sleeved because the sorting systems eject these bottles into the coloured stream.
For packaging designers considering using full body sleeves on PET bottles, the following
considerations should be explored via trials with sorting equipment suppliers:
 Clear PET bottles are typically sleeved with full body sleeves and these are typically
coloured and therefore a sorting evaluation is needed to be performed on how the
sensors see these bottles in terms of polymer identification and colour recognition.
For example, is the underlying intensity of the signal from a clear PET bottle able to
always overcome the signal received by the sensor from the sleeve?
 If the sleeve is coloured (or multi-coloured) then what decision will the sensor make
to sort this bottle into a coloured or a clear stream?
 Can a system learn that a coloured sleeved bottle should be sent into a clear PET
fraction stream?
 Sleeve thickness can play significant part in detection and newly developed bottles
with shrink sleeves should be tested for sorting performance.
 Many shrink sleeves are multi-coloured and colour of the sleeve needs to be
carefully considered. For example, when a yellow/red sleeve section of a sleeve is
presented to the sensor, the sensor will identify it as yellow or red and be able to
successfully eject it into a coloured stream. However, if a dark colour or a black
sleeve is used it may not be able for the sensor to detect it as black is typically not
identifiable by NIR (unless non-carbon black colorant is used).
 A combination of black and inappropriate sleeve thickness would result in weak NIR
characteristics and not allow the sensor to identify it as a PET polymer bottle or
determine its colour.
19
 Guidelines on sleeve technology for effective removal and sensor classification need
to be developed as these will determine sleeve design and manufacture and
ultimately help improve the recovery of clear PET bottles with full body coloured
sleeves, currently classified as coloured PET bottles.
Sleeves
PE Stretch Sleeves preferred Shrink sleeves with perforations PVC / PS / PLA / PET-G, other
PE / PP / OPP / EPS / foamed and revealing a significant % of material with density > 1 g/cm3.
PET &PET-G (Density < 1g/cm3). PET bottle; Full body PET shrink Difficult to remove and/or NIR
Shrink sleeves with perforations sleeves sort with heavy ink coverage.
and revealing a significant % of
the bottle to allow detection of
clear PET bottle.
10.0 Label adhesives

The amount of adhesive and surface coverage should be minimised to reduce contamination
during recycling.
Water-soluble or alkali soluble adhesives are preferred. Adhesives that cannot be removed
remain coated to the flakes and can embed undesirable contaminants. The use of thermoset
polyurethane adhesives is particularly problematic.
The European Plastics Recyclers (EuPR) has issued a list of hot-melt adhesives acceptable for
inclusion in mechanical recycling operations
(http://www.plasticsrecyclers.eu/docs/docs/useful006.pdf). Adhesives classified as good show
removal rates of greater than 90%.
The Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) has developed testing protocols to
evaluate the impact of adhesives on bottle reclamation systems
(http://www.plasticsrecycling.org/technical_resources/testing/pet_flake_contamination_test.asp).
The European PET Bottle Platform(EPBP) has developed testing protocols for adhesive
manufacturers and packaging producers to evaluate the impact of adhesive products in
conventional PET recycling systems.
http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/downloads/public/EPBP_QT504_-_glue_separation_(2010).pdf
It is recommended that where possible, the glue be applied in a very thin layer and only act
as lap joint. With any new label development designers should perform glue separation tests
and check that the label glue is on the EUPR approved glue list, the adhesive should separate
from PET flakes during the hot caustic water wash step. Label adhesives should be water
soluble or dispersible at temperatures between “0°C and „5°C in order to be removed in
conventional washing and separation systems. If adhesives are not removed efficiently, they
may disperse and re-deposit on the PET flake regrind and embed unwanted contaminants.
The use of hot melt adhesives is undesirable and should be avoided unless the adhesive
20
readily separates from the plastic and does not cause problems in the reclaiming process. The
use of other non soluble adhesive types is discouraged and should be avoided.
Adhesives

Water soluble in 60 – 80C Strong adhesives with paper Water insoluble (even at
Plastic wrap, Minimal glue labels elevated temperatures and
strip (e.g. lap join). pH levels)
Comply with EuPR guidelines
11.0 Barrier systems (coatings, additives, layers)

Monolayer PET packaging with minimal other materials results in the cleanest end-product.
There are certain products such as oxygen sensitive juices that require long shelf life
protection and the only way to achieve this is with a functional barrier, however reducing the
use of barrier layers for products where barrier requirements are minimal is important. Often
barrier material amounts are over specified, as a precaution and these high levels of barrier
materials impact the recycling stream.
There are currently many ongoing developments and innovations in barrier materials and
many of these offer enormous growth opportunities for the PET industry, lightweighting
opportunities also provide wider packaging options for beverage producers. But the barrier
materials are not PET based and the introduction of non-PET material may represent a
difficult-to-remove contaminant that could adversely impact recycling. If the new barrier
packaging is not designed for recyclability, downstream costs may increase due to the
problems with removing the non-PET components.
Barriers are typically needed to meet the requirements of specific product applications e.g.
protection from either light or oxygen. Barrier materials can be internal, external or middle
layers and may be difficult to separate from the PET layers and can therefore hinder recycling.
Some barrier systems are more compatible than others in recycling and each system will
require a detailed evaluation prior to selection. EPBP issues regular updates of barrier and
blocker systems that have passed recyclability tests. In most cases these approvals are
conditional, meaning that the use of these materials in PET bottles is limited to a certain
weight percentage of the bottle and/or relative proportion of these bottles in the
marketplace. This information can be found on EPBP s website.
In general the use of non-PET layers and coatings are detrimental to the recycling process
and should be minimised wherever possible. In some cases using a heavier PET only bottle
may still achieve functional and economic objectives without contamination. Where their use
is unavoidable they should ideally be easily removable e.g. plasma based coatings (SiOx) or
blended additives that are compatible with PET such as Monox. Polyethylene napthalate (PEN)
that is less than 3% of the bottle weight or some nylons e.g. MXD6, which can be at least
partially separated by mechanical action may be tolerable in some systems. Barrier materials
containing EVOH and MXD6 have the potential to cause discolouration during PET recyclate
21
reprocessing. Whilst MXD6 does not cause major problems to recycling it does have the
potential to cause some discolouration.
The Technical Committee of the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) in 2010 evaluated the
effect of MXD6 co-injected bottles on the quality of recycled PET. The co-injected bottles
consisted of a thin layer of MXD6 as the middle layer of a 3-layer construction with no
adhesive tie layers and a content of approximately 5% MXD6. Data supplied from tests
(carried out according to the EPBP testing protocol) demonstrated that processing conditions
and bottle performances were not affected by relatively high percentages of MXD6 co-
injected bottles. However, residual colour was found to be a limiting factor, although the
MXD6 middle layer was able to be partially removed (by air elutriation) from the inner and
outer PET layer during the PET recycling process.
EPBP have stated that the co-injected bottles with MXD6 should be used only under the
following conditions:
 the preform must be injected so that the MXD6 layer is only in the bottle wall with a
maximum of 5% Nylon MXD6;
 the bottle must be 3-layer construction with no tie layers;
 the concentration of these bottles is limited at a level up to 2% in the PET bottle
market.
If these conditions are met then based on the assessment s outcome and current market s
knowledge of MXD6 in 2010 the EPBP concluded that Mitsubishi Gas Chemical MXD6 co-
injected bottles coating will have no negative impact on current European PET recycling
(EPBP, 2010).
Therefore, provided that barrier materials such as MXD6 in the PET recycle stream are kept at
very low levels then the impacts on recycled PET are believed to be minimal, however if the
use of these barrier materials becomes more common or if they start to be used in a product
with large volumes then there will be impacts such as discolouration and yellowing of
recycled PET.
PETCORE have proposed test guidelines to determine the impacts of barrier materials and
technologies on the PET recyclate stream and include:
 Yellowness Index and determination of flake colour (Doc P-0);

 Evaluation of the influence of additives or barrier materials in the production and
properties of bottles containing R-PET (Doc P-4);
 Evaluation of delamination and removal of barrier materials or additives during the
reclaim process (Doc R-1).
11.1 Bio-Oxo-Photo-Degradable Additives
A number of companies have started to offer bio-oxo-photo degradable additives for

PET bottles. Misleading claims have been made that these additives will help bottles
that end up as litter degrade in soil or marine environments. This is not true as PET
does not readily degrade, so although the additives may break the bottle structure
down, small particles and PET fragments will remain.
22
This approach has serious implications as it has the
potential to degrade PET materials and have serious
impacts on the recycled resins. DEFRA in the UK have
published a study stating that packaging containing
these additives could cause problems for recycling and
that products should be incinerated not composted.µ
These additives break down and are believed to leave

behind various sizes of PET fragments, which can be
highly dangerous to wildlife and result in accumulation
of fine plastic particles in the environment. Any bio,
oxo, photo degradable additives need to be avoided as
they not only do not provide any environmental or
functional benefits, they cannot be readily sorted and
may be detrimental to the existing recycling
infrastructure
12.0 Other Bottle Packaging Components
12.1 Other Components

The use of other components e.g. handles, pouring spouts, sports caps etc is discouraged
unless they can be easily separated in flotation tanks (e.g. have a density of < 1 g/cm 3) or
are unpigmented compatible materials.
Price tags where used should be attached to the closure or the label.
The use of RFID tags needs to be individually assessed to ensure that they can be easily
removed and separated. Where possible it is best to avoid the use of RFID tags.
The use of PVC, PLA and PETG should be avoided wherever possible as these materials
significantly interfere with PET recycling systems, since they have an appearance very
similar to PET they become included with the PET bottles prior to the recycling process.
These materials are of overlapping density (>1g / cm3) so get carried through the
reprocessing system, where due to their lower melting point, they cause the formation of
degraded black particles (PVC) and agglomerations of flakes and granules (PLA and PETG)
that can ruin many tonnes of otherwise high quality recyclate
12.2 Base Cups

Base cups are rarely used on economic grounds and preferably should not be used.
However if at any time their use were to be considered then they should be made from
HDPE / PP or clear PET and never be made in coloured PET.
23
13.0 PET Bottle Recyclability Decision Matrix
PET BOTTLE RECYCLE FRIENDLY CONDITIONAL PROBLEMATIC FOR
RECYCLING
Colourants, Clear / natural Dark blue / black if NIR Non-detectable Dark,
fillers and Light (blue or green) tints detectable opaque, metallic, solid
additives Dark green and brown colourants
Optical brighteners Any use of fillers.
O2 scavengers; Nanocomposite barrier
UV stabilisers; fillers
AA blockers Bio/Oxo/Photo
Degradable Additives
Barrier coatings Clear plasma coatings e.g. PEN / Amasorb / MXD6 EVOH >3%
Blended barrier CVD* SiOx, Monox barrier layer (if <3% total Amasorb > 5%
resins & barrier Other blended barrier bottle weight) MXD6 > 5%
layers materials that separate
and do not cause
yellowing
Closures HDPE / LDPE / PP - Materials density > 1
g/cm3 Metals / PS / PVC
Closure liners HDPE / PE+EVA / PP / Paper / silicone Neck Foils Metal / PVC /
and seals Foamed Silicone / PET swimming valves (density EVA Silicone (density > 1
<1g/cm3) g/cm3)
Labels HDPE / MDPE / LDPE / Wraparound paper labels Pressure sensitive / self-
LLDPE / PP / OPP / EPS Metallic foils adhesive labels. PVC / PS /
Wraparound plastic metallised.
Inks Non toxic Inks that bleed, toxic or
Follows EUPIA Guidelines hazardous; react with PET
Direct Printing Laser marked production Ink direct printed Any other direct printing
or expiry date production or expiry date Large areas direct printed
Sleeves PE / PP / OPP / EPS / Shrink sleeves with PVC / PS / other material
foamed PET (Density < perforations and revealing with density > 1 g/cm3.
1g/cm3). a significant % of PET Difficult to remove and/or
PE Stretch Sleeves bottle; Full body PET NIR sort with heavy ink
Shrink sleeves with shrink sleeves coverage.
perforations and revealing
a significant % of the
bottle.
Adhesives Water soluble in 60 – Strong adhesives with Water insoluble (even at
80C paper labels elevated temperatures and
Plastic wrap, Minimal glue pH levels)
strip (e.g. lap join).
Comply with EuPR
guidelines
Base cups No base cup HDPE / PP / clear PET Coloured PET and other
plastics density > 1 g/cm3
Bottle Size Diameter > 50mm, Diameter 40 -50mm Diameter < 30mm,
Other Length > 100mm Length < 100mm.
components Any polymer components
with density > 1 g/cm3;
PVC / PLA / PS / PETG
RFID tags
24
14.0 Contaminants in rPET from poorly designed bottle
packaging
Recycled PET is affected by contaminants from poorly designed PET bottles but also many
types of packaging products that end up in the commingled packaging waste stream.
The following is a list of often found contaminants that regularly end up in recycled PET
resins:
 Black Specs are found in almost all recycled PET resins. Although RPET resins are melt
filtered down to very fine levels (60-100 micron) degraded particles from burnt paper label
fibres or degraded PVC black specs break apart and contaminate RPET resins. Black specs
are the end result of poorly chosen components such as paper labels or PVC shrink
sleeves.
 PLA contamination is relatively new in the PET industry, but is a growing threat. PLA is
difficult to identify in PET flake and during extrusion will phase separate potentially causing
problems during solid stating as the granules with PLA contamination will become tacky.
When RPET is processed into bottles any presence of PLA contamination will cause
haziness due to induced crystallinity. There are a few PLA bottles present in the EU/UK
bottle market, however PLA is becoming popular for thermoformed packaging and PLA
labels have now entered marketplace and these will cause problems for PET bottle
recycling. PLA labels or sleeves should be avoided for use with PET bottle packaging.
 PVC contaminants cause black specs in RPET, discolouration and a drop in the intrinsic
viscosity of RPET.
 PETG is often mistaken as PET. However PETG has greater melt strength than PET and is
often used for wide mouth jars and can cause gels and other processing problems. PETG
should be avoided where possible.
 PS/OPS/HIPS cause problems for RPET resin during reprocessing and cross contamination
with PS/HIPS will often result in bottle defects. Many PET bottle designers still use OPS for
sleeves or for labels on PET bottles. Labels or sleeves should be made from polyolefinic
materials such as xxxxxxxx?
 Silicone contamination has increased due to the popularity of leak resistant silicone valves
and also silicone valves in sport drink caps. Silicone valves cause gels and defects in
products made from RPET that contains silicone contaminants. Silicone valves should be
foamed or have a density less than 1gm/cm3 or be designed in such a way that once a cap
is granulated the silicone floats and is removed with the polyolefinic cap material.
 Adhesive contamination results in yellowing of recycled PET. Certain adhesives can also
cause the formation of gels and haziness within the RPET resin and products.
 Aluminium contaminants found in RPET come from two sources, namely aluminium foils
or residual particles from aluminium cans. Aluminium contaminants are usually removed
when melt-filtered, however if they get past a filter screen they are seen as serious
25
contaminants that result in products being put on hold or recalled. Aluminium components
in PET bottle packaging need to be avoided.
 Metal contaminants typically from springs in trigger packs or metal closures. These can
cause serious problems if they get past a filtration system and result in product recalls or
packaging products being put on-hold and re-sorted. Metals need to be avoided in PET
bottle packaging.
 Coloured PET/Other Coloured Plastics cause discolouration of extruded recycled PET

resin. The level of discolouration is typically related to the colour types and the amount of
coloured contaminants present. Coloured PET shrink sleeves will be identified as PET and
will in many cases contaminate clear PET bottle flakes. Whilst better than PVC/OPS shrink
sleeves they will cause discolouration as they often heavily printed and the ink will
discolour and contaminate the RPET during melt reprocessing (extrusion).
15.0 Test Protocols for Recyclability
15.1 PET Flake Oven Age test

A PET flake oven age test is performed by every recycler. This test allows recycling
companies to quickly see what happens to the flake materials before they are extruded
and what types of contaminants are present. For example PVC contaminants will degrade
and turn brown or black and will therefore be easily identified and their levels measured in
parts per million (ppm).
The oven aging test is designed to allows QA/QC staff to measure impurities, additives,
coatings or glues that discolour during a heating step. Materials with low softening
temperatures such as polyolefins and PLA will become tacky and can also be readily
identified and their levels measure.
In the test, a known quantity of a PET flake sample is heated to 220 °C for “0 minutes.
During this thermal treatment, degradation of certain components in the sample will cause
the contaminants to discolour, making it possible to be visually detected in the sample.
PET flakes with attached glues will become yellow or even brown on surface. After 60
minutes the flake samples are removed from the oven and inspected for discolouration,
flakes with glues, degraded materials, clusters due to polymers that become tacky and
stick to PET. Some recyclers also measure the L-a-b values of the oven aged flake samples
to determine, likely discolouration that may occur during further thermal treatments such
as extrusion or solid stating. An oven age test protocol has been developed by EPBP
http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/downloads/public/EPBP_QT500_-_oventest_(2010).pdf
15.2 Sink Float Separation Test Protocols

A sink-float test can be readily performed by most packaging designers as it typically uses
water to separate PET flakes from other components such as caps, labels and closure
valves.
26
The European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) organization has developed a test protocol for
sink-float testing. Sink floatation is an easy and efficient, density based separation method
used to separate light, floating components such as caps and labels from heavy
components that sink, such as granulated PET bottles flakes. Non-PET materials and
components that sink together with PET flakes cause serious processing inefficiencies
which limit the use of rPET in applications such as bottles. Combinations of PET with other
material types that sink in water should be avoided on all PET bottle packaging (EPBP,
2010) http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/downloads/public/EPBP_QT502_-
_sink_float_separation_(2010).pdf
15.3 Adhesives – Glue Separation & Removal Test Protocols

Where possible the use of glue on PET bottle surface should be avoided, however if this
cannot be achieved, soluble glues and small amounts and areas covered should be the
objective.
The European Plastics Recyclers (EuPR) has issued a list of hotmelt adhesives acceptable for
inclusion in mechanical recycling operations
(http://www.plasticsrecyclers.eu/docs/docs/useful006.pdf). Adhesives classified as good
show removal rates of greater than 90%.
The Association of Post Consumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) has developed testing protocols
to evaluate the impact of adhesives on bottle reclamation systems
(http://www.plasticsrecycling.org/technical_resources/testing/pet_flake_contamination_test.as
p).
The EPBP has developed glue test assessment protocol

http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/downloads/public/EPBP_QT504_-
_glue_separation_(2010).pdf
These protocols are widely recognised by the recycling industry as they have been
developed through direct consultation with many recyclers and have been proven to
provide quick and accurate assessments of glue separation.
15.4 Sorting Tests

There are currently no specific protocols that specify sorting performance. The European
PET Bottle Platform has suggested that NIR and Colour detection accuracy of 80-90% may
be acceptable.
For many recyclers, sorting performance is the key to achieving high purity rPET resins. For
this reason it is recommended that before new PET bottle packaging is placed into the
marketplace it should be checked for detectability by NIR and optical colour sorting
systems. All polymers have unique spectroscopic signatures that allow them to be
identified and sorted into individual polymer streams. The majority of modern automated
sorting systems use Near Infra-Red (NIR) Spectroscopy to identify the polymer type.
27
Figure 5. An example of the spectroscopic profile of various polymers
The following picture shows an example of an NIR identification of a medium sized PLA bottle
and a larger PET bottle. The sensor is able to distinguish the different polymer types and also
the size of the bottles and all the important and necessary information for the ejection of
these bottles.
Figure 6. Example of an NIR screen reading showing a signal for a PLA bottle and PET bottle.
Bottle packaging designers also need to consider the impact of different bottle shapes and
sizes and how these variables can effect sorting. As previously described, small bottles are
difficult to identify especially if covered in large labels or sleeves and can also be difficult to
eject. Certain bottle shapes can be difficult to flatten during baling and bottles that are not
sufficiently flattened can roll around on the sorting conveyor belt, making identification and
detection for the sensor difficult.
New developments in sorting include the use of so called laser flake sorting systems which
utilise wide spectrum (UV-Vis-NIR-MID) measurement of the polymer spectroscopic signature.
Although currently expensive and not widely used, these systems are likely to become more
28
widespread as costs come down. and will be important in sorting of flakes where they are
highly effective at removing contaminants such as Silicone, PVC, PLA and other non-PET
materials. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) systems are occasionally used to help separate PVC from
PET as XRF systems can readily detect the chlorine component in PVC.
Optical sensors that utilise colour databases and detect in the visible spectrum are used to
separate bottles by colour. The majority of recyclers only sort PET into two fractions:
 Clear & Light Blue
 Mixed Colours (Jazz)
Provided that the volumes of coloured PET justify the investment and infrastructure in sorting
equipment, some recently built sophisticated recycling plants sort into coloured PET into a
number of colour streams such as:
 Clear & Light Blue
 Dark Blue
 Green
 Mixed Colours (Amber, Brown, Yellow, Red, Black, White, Purple, Orange, etc)
It is typically not commercially viable to separate all colours into individual streams. Coloured
PET waste streams that contain a mix of colours are diverted away from high value closed
loop recycling (i.e. bottle-to-bottle or bottle-to-sheet) and are primarily used for strapping
and fibre applications.
NIR bottle sorting systems are now capable of sorting mixed materials to high purity rates of
95-98% at high throughput rates of 3-5 tonnes per hour. In Europe a number of specialised
NIR bottle sorting equipment manufacturers exist:
 TITECH (Germany) http://www.titech.com/
 S+S Separation and Sorting Technology (Germany) http://www.sesotec.com/
 Pellenc Selective Technologies (France) http://www.pellencst.com/en/
 RTT (Germany) http://www.rtt-zittau.de/en/
 Binder +Co AG (Austria) http://www.binder-co.com/
 BT-Wolfgang Binder GmbH (Austria) http://www.redwave.at
These companies all regularly perform both static and dynamic sorting tests to determine
sorting efficiency of newly developed packaging and they can also provide feedback on sort
accuracy and achieved purity rates as well as highlight any potential problems before the
bottles enter the marketplace and the recycling stream. It is recommended that these
suppliers be consulted either directly, via recycling operations or industry bodies such as
EPBP, to evaluate new bottle designs.
Flake sorting systems have traditionally been used to optically separate clear flake plastic
materials from coloured plastic materials. In the last 2 years several companies have
29
developed NIR based flake sorting systems and a wide spectrum laser sorting system has
been developed by UNISENSOR. A number of flaking sorting equipment manufacturers based
in Europe can perform inhouse tests that may help packaging designers understand potential
impacts of bottle design and components on flake sorting performance. The key flake sorting
suppliers include:
 TITECH Autosort (Flake) (Germany) http://www.titech.com/
 S+S Separation and Sorting Technology (FLAKE PURIFIER) (Germany)

http://www.sesotec.com/
 UNISENSOR Powersort 200 (Germany) http://www.unisensor.de/
 ViSys Cleantech (Belgium) http://www.visysrecycling.com/
 SEA (Italy) http://www.seasort.com/
 Buhler Sortex (UK) http://www.buhlergroup.com/global/en/process-

technologies/optical-sorting.htm
16.0 Conclusions
Using these guidelines as a tool to aid the review of current packaging and the development
of new packaging will help packaging designers, sales and marketing staff to avoid the use of
materials or combinations of materials that might create problems in collecting, sorting or
recycling PET bottles.
The use of the guidelines will also drive a market change, as more bottles move to highly
recyclable categories which will continue to improve the overall quality of recycled PET as well
as the quantity of high quality of PET recyclate available for reuse back into bottles. This
change will allow more widespread use of rPET at higher incorporation rates and reduce the
amount of material that is currently being downgraded due to impurities or poor colour.
30
17.0 Key Links, Reports & Organisations
The following documents provide guidance on general eco-design principles for PET bottles
and other plastic packaging formats. It is recommended that packaging designers become
familiar with the key principles discussed within these documents. Whilst there are some
differences on the recyclability and categorisation of different packaging, many of these
documents outline
Best Practices and Industry Standards in PET Plastic Recycling, NAPCOR, 1997
Conception et Fabrication des Emballages en Matiere Plastique pour une Valorisation

Optimisee, Chambre Symdicale des Emballages en Matiere Plastique (CSEMP)
Design for Recycling Guidelines; Designing Plastic Bottles to be Recyclable , Keith Bechard
Entropex Oct 2009, The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers
Designing Recycling-Friendly Plastic Sales Packaging: A discussion paper for Packaging

Designers, DKR, Sep 2001
Designing recyclable plastic bottles, Comite Technique de Recyclage des Emballages

Plastiques (COTREP) Jan 2004
European PET Bottle Platform: PET Recycling Test Protocol, February 2010, EPBP,
www.petbottleplatform.eu
Exclusion List for Printing Inks and Related Products, 5th edition Oct 2007, Eupia.org
Guidelines on Acceptability of Additives and materials in PET Waste Stream for an

Efficient Recycling of PET, Petcore
Packaging Design for the Environment: Reducing Costs and Quantities GG360, Envirowise
Guide
Packaging, Material recycling, report on requirements for substances and materials to

prevent a sustained impediment to recycling. CEN 13688, Apr 2000
Packguide: A Guide to Packaging Eco-Design, Incpen, GG908, Envirowise Guide
PET Bottles, Design for Recyclability Guidelines , The Association of Postconsumer Plastic
Recyclers
PET Bleeding Label Test, Testing, Technical Resources, The Association of Postconsumer
Plastic Recyclers
PET Flake Contamination Test, Testing, Technical Resources, The Association of

Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers
31
Positive Glue List, European Plastics Recyclers (EuPR) Version 1, Approved April 2001
Plastics packaging, Recyclability by Design, Recoup, revised edition 2009
Voluntary Design Guidelines for Designated PET Bottles , Apr 2001, The Council for PET
Bottle Recycling
17.1 European PET Bottle Platform

The European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) is a voluntary initiative supported by the
European Association of Plastic Recycling and Recovery Organisations (EPRO), the
European Plastics Recyclers (EUPR), PET containers recycling Europe (Petcore), the European
non-alcoholic beverages association (UNESDA) and The European Federation of Bottled
Waters (EFBW).
The main objective of the European PET Bottle Platform is to evaluate technologies /
products and to allow new PET bottle innovations, while minimising the economic and
environmental consequences for the European PET recycling industry.
It plans to do so by promoting the recyclability of PET bottles on the market by:
 Establishing European harmonised guidelines for PET bottles recyclability that will be
accepted across the whole value chain.
 Encouraging industry to test new PET bottle concepts and/or materials before market
launch according to the harmonised guidelines.
 Giving advice and recommendations to the different stakeholders.
 Sharing information and knowledge across the whole value chain.

The Platform is grouping technical experts in the field of PET production, design and
recycling for an objective evaluation of new technologies and an independent assessment
of their impact on the PET recycling processes across Europe. For this, the Platform has
established several test procedures in order to assess the recycling profile of new
packaging technologies, such as barriers, additives, closures, labels, etc. Products that pass
the tests should not experience any problems during recycling.
The European PET Bottle Platform has established several test procedures to assess the
influence of PET bottle innovations - such as barrier materials, resin formulations, additives
and non-PET components in or on PET bottles - on RPET recycling processes. Non-PET
components in new or innovative PET bottles may affect specific properties of RPET which
are relevant for its re-use as secondary raw material in applications such as bottles, film,
sheet, strapping and fibre.
The first set of test procedures are relatively rapid and low-cost techniques for the quick
assessment of the recycling profile of PET bottles. All quick tests include a complete
explanation of the scope, techniques, equipment and test conditions, as well as a
summary interpretation explaining how to use the test results. The results of the quick
tests are purely indicative, and are often used for the optimisation of further tests.
EPBP has also developed a test protocol for innovative PET bottles. This protocol is
designed to evaluate PET packaging solutions that generally end up in the PET recycling
32
stream and that can possibly influence the quality of - or even disturb - the recycling
system. Their experts will use the information provided by the applicant, combined with its
expertise and knowledge database, to determine the optimal test program, using up-to-
date testing methods that produce qualitative and/or quantitative test results. Products
that pass the tests should not experience any problems during recycling.
For further information visit: http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/index.php
17.2 PETCORE
PETCORE, PET COntainers REcycling Europe, is a European association fostering the use
and development of PET containers and facilitating both PET recycling and the
development of recycled end material. Petcore has members from many sectors of the
PET industry and today it sees a wide representation from many sectors of the business:
resin producers, containers manufacturers, bottle end-users and recyclers. Petcore assists
local authorities in establishing PET containers recycling programmes and maintains close
relationships with European national associations dedicated to the recovery and recycling
of PET containers. Petcore has developed a sound know-how in the establishment of
recycling programmes and can assist communities with pertinent information about the
processing, reclamation and re manufacture of post-consumer containers.
In order to foster PET packaging usage, Petcore believes that PET packaging development,
design, promotion and the collection and recycling of post-consumer PET containers, must
be based on the three pillars of sustainability. PET packaging development as a whole
must therefore be:
 economically sound
 environmentally justified
 socially accepted 
For further information visit: www.petcore.org
17.3 APR
The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) in the USA is the national trade
association representing companies who acquire, reprocess and sell the output of more
than 90 percent of the post-consumer plastic processing capacity in North America. APR
strongly advocates the recycling of all post-consumer plastic packaging. APR promotes
development of the plastics recycling industry by providing leadership for long-term
industry growth and vitality. APR strives to expand the post-consumer plastics recycling
industry through a cooperative effort aimed at identifying and eliminating barriers to
successful commercial recycling by:
 Developing protocols for the design of packaging for greater recyclability.
 Improving the quality of post-consumer plastics entering the system.
 Fostering a strong interface with end-user markets.
 Promoting a cooperative testing program for new packaging.
 Encouraging design for recyclability with guidelines and programs.
33
APR s Technical Committee has established and updated guidelines for the design, the
recyclability and standards for good recycling practices along with researching new
technologies.
APR also works very closely with other industry organizations such as the National
Recycling Coalition, the American Plastics Council and the National Association for PET
Container Resources.
For further information visit: http://www.plasticsrecycling.org
17.4 NAPCOR
The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) is the trade association
for the PET plastic industry. They promote the introduction and use of PET packaging,
facilitate the recycling of PET packaging, and communicate the attributes of the PET
container as an environmentally sustainable package. NAPCOR have developed PET
recyclability guidelines and provide information on best practices in recycling.
For further information visit: http://www.napcor.com/
17.5 UK – WRAP & BRC On-Pack Labelling Scheme for Packaging

In the United Kingdom, BRC, WRAP and LARAC all measure the recyclability of packaging,
including PET bottles.
The assessment is based on the 3 on-pack label BRC categories:
“Widely recycled means “5% of people

have access to recycling facilities for
these items.
Check local recycling means 15% -

65% of people have access to recycling
facilities for these items.
Not currently recycled means less

than 15% of people have access to
recycling facilities for these items.
Despite improving household recycling rates in recent years the UK is still lagging behind
the continent on recycling. To improve communication the British Retail Consortium (BRC)
with support from WRAP, has developed the On-Pack Recycling Label scheme. The On-
Pack Recycling Label scheme is administered through a subsidiary company called OPRL
Ltd (OPRL, 2010). The On-Pack Recycling Label scheme aims to deliver a simpler, UK-wide,
consistent, recycling message on both retailer private label and brand-owner packaging to
help consumers recycle more material, more often.
34
Figure 7. Example of BRC/WRAP On-Pack Recycling Label scheme for PET bottles
Retailers, manufacturers and brand owners who put packaged products on to the UK
market are all encouraged to participate in the scheme. Many early signatories are in the
groceries sector but the BRC and WRAP aim to cover all consumer packaging going onto
the UK market (OPRL, 2010 http://www.onpackrecyclinglabel.org.uk/). There is now desire
to extend this UK based label scheme to include other areas such as recycled content .
35
18.0 References
APR 2011, http://www.plasticsrecycling.org/technical-resources/design-for-recyclability-
guidelines
BSDA 200‟, Sustainability in Practise: The Soft Drinks Industry Sustainability Strategy – One
Year On British Soft Drinks Association, June 200‟.
European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) 2010, Swimming Silicone APTAR Valve Assessment
http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/downloads/public/4._APTAR_Food+Beverage_swimming_silico
ne_valve.pdf
European PET Bottle Platform: Sink Float Separation Test Protocol, 2010
http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/downloads/public/EPBP_QT502_-
_sink_float_separation_(2010).pdf
European PET Bottle Platform: Glue Separation Test Protocol, 2010

http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/downloads/public/EPBP_QT504_-_glue_separation_(2010).pdf
European PET Bottle Platform: PET recycling Test Protocol, 2010

http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/downloads/public/EPBP_protocol_-_website_version_(2010).pdf
European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP) 2010, MXD6 Assessment

http://www.petbottleplatform.eu/downloads/public/4._Mitsubishi_Gas_Chemical_MXD6_multilay
er_-_opinion.pdf
Petcore 2006, Protocol to evaluate the influence of PLA bottles on the clear RPET stream
Petcore 2008, http://www.petcore.org/content/02182008-study-made-effect-pla-pet-recycling-

stream
Petcore 2008, http://www.petcore.org/content/021808-petcore-evaluation-polylactic-acid-pla
Petcore 2009, http://www.petcore.org/content/09-2009-plaand-its-threat-european-pet-

recycle-industry
Petcore 2011, Protocol s evaluating barrier materials, is available from Petcore website once
registered,
www.petcore.org
WRAP 2006,
http://www.wrap.org.uk/downloads/Recycling_LCA_Report_Executive_Summary_Sept_2006.8a08
31f3.2839.pdf
36
Glossary
EVA ethylene vinyl acetate
EVOH ethylene vinyl alcohol
EPS expanded polystyrene
HDPE high density polyethylene
LDPE low density polyethylene
LLDPE linear low density polyethylene
MDPE medium density polyethylene
MRF material recycling facility
MXD6 proprietary nylon (barrier material)
NIR near infrared (spectroscopy)
OPP orientated polypropylene
PEN polyethylene naphthalate
PET polyethylene terephthalate
PETG polyethylene terephthalate glycol
PLA poly lactic acid
PP polypropylene
PRF plastics recycling facility
PS polystyrene
PVC polyvinyl chloride
RPET recycled PET
UV ultra violet
VIS visible (spectrum)
XRF x ray fluorescence
(g) gram
cm centimetre
37
UNESDA EFBW
Union of European Beverages Associations European Federation of Bottled Waters
Boulevard Saint Michel 77-79 Rue de l’Association 32
1040 Brussels B-1000 Brussels
Phone : +32 2 743 40 50 Phone : + 32 2 210 20 32
Email : mail@unesda.org Email : info@efbw.org
www.unesda.org www.efbw.eu
38

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Design Guide For PET Bottle Recyclabilit

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Design Guide for

PET Bottle Recyclability

Written by: Cees van Dongen - Coca-Cola Europe

EFBW - The European Federation of Bottled Waters is a non-profit international trade

PET BOTTLE RECYCLE FRIENDLY CONDITIONAL PROBLEMATIC FOR RECYCLING

 The purpose is to inform packaging designers of recycling processes and provide a

2.1 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Savings

2.2 Quality and Consistency of rPET in Closed Loop Applications

3.0 Recycling in Context

 Economic efficiency of collection, recycling and reprocessing operations.

4.0 Principles of Designing for PET Bottle Recyclability

4.1 Key Steps in a Typical PET Recycling Operation

B: De-bale into single bottles

G: Cut bottles into 10 mm flakes in a grinder

I: Sink float density separation of PET and closures

J: Remove loose labels and dusty particles via hydrocyclones

L: Decontaminate the clear PET flakes by:

a. Decontamination, extrusion and melt-filtration of flakes into granules

Mechanical recycling processes rely on sorting techniques using near-infrared (NIR)

5.0 Bottles – Why Size Matters

Small PET bottles that are typically used

Trommel screen sizes vary between 30-

For this reason it is best that bottles have

Recycle Friendly Conditional Problematic for Recycling

6.0 Bottle materials, colourants and additives

6.1 Bottle Materials

6.2 PLA Bottles

6.4 Clarified PP Materials for Bottles

6.5 PET Colourants & Fillers

Bottle Colourants & Fillers

6.6 Direct Printing on PET Bottles

Inks (Direct print)

Recycle Friendly Conditional Problematic for Recycling

Recycle Friendly Conditional Problematic for Recycling

7.0 Closures (closure liners & seals)

7.1 Closure Liners and Seals

Closure Liners & Seals

8.0 Labelling systems & materials

8.1 Paper Labels

9.0 Sleeving systems

Overall, sleeves should be designed to be readily removable in recycling processes i.e.

9.1 Sorting of Coloured Shrink Sleeves.

10.0 Label adhesives

Recycle Friendly Conditional Problematic for Recycling

11.0 Barrier systems (coatings, additives, layers)

 Yellowness Index and determination of flake colour (Doc P-0);

11.1 Bio-Oxo-Photo-Degradable Additives

A number of companies have started to offer bio-oxo-photo degradable additives for

These additives break down and are believed to leave

12.0 Other Bottle Packaging Components

12.1 Other Components

12.2 Base Cups

 Coloured PET/Other Coloured Plastics cause discolouration of extruded recycled PET

15.0 Test Protocols for Recyclability

15.1 PET Flake Oven Age test

15.2 Sink Float Separation Test Protocols

15.3 Adhesives – Glue Separation & Removal Test Protocols

The EPBP has developed glue test assessment protocol

15.4 Sorting Tests

 Clear & Light Blue

 Mixed Colours (Jazz)

 Clear & Light Blue

 TITECH (Germany) http://www.titech.com/