Circularity Study on PET Bottle-To-Bottle Recycling

Elisabeth Pinter, Frank Welle, Elisa Mayrhofer, Andreas Pechhacker, Lukas Motloch, Vera Lahme, Andy Grant and Manfred Tacker
Additional contact information
Elisabeth Pinter: Department of Applied Life Sciences, FH Campus Wien, University of Applied Sciences, Helmut-Qualtinger-Gasse 2, 1030 Vienna, Austria
Frank Welle: Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging, Giggenhauser Straße 35, 85354 Freising, Germany
Elisa Mayrhofer: Department for Microbiology and Cell Culture, OFI–Austrian Research Institute for Chemistry and Technology, Franz-Grill-Straße 5, Object 213, 1030 Vienna, Austria
Andreas Pechhacker: Starlinger & Co GmbH, Sonnenuhrgasse 4, 1060 Vienna, Austria
Lukas Motloch: Starlinger & Co GmbH, Sonnenuhrgasse 4, 1060 Vienna, Austria
Vera Lahme: Eunomia, 37 Queen Square, Bristol BS1 4QS, UK
Andy Grant: Eunomia, 37 Queen Square, Bristol BS1 4QS, UK
Manfred Tacker: Department of Applied Life Sciences, FH Campus Wien, University of Applied Sciences, Helmut-Qualtinger-Gasse 2, 1030 Vienna, Austria

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-15

Abstract: With the European Green Deal, the importance of recycled products and materials has increased. Specifically, for PET bottles, a high content of recycled material (rPET) is demanded by the industry and consumers. This study was carried out in a lab environment replicating real-life industrial processes, to investigate the possible impacts on rPET quality over eleven recycling loops, aiming to use high amounts of rPET repetitively. A cycle included extrusion, solid state polycondensation (SSP), a second extrusion to simulate bottle production, hot wash and a drying step. 75% rPET and 25% virgin PET were extruded in eleven cycles to simulate a recycling and production process. Samples underwent chemical, physical and biological analysis. The quality of the rPET material was not adversely affected. Parameters such as coloring, intrinsic viscosity, concentration of critical chemicals and presence of mutagenic contaminants could be positively assessed. The quality of the produced material was likely influenced by the input material’s high standard. A closed loop PET bottle recycling process using an rPET content of up to 75% was possible when following the proposed process, indicating that this level of recycled content can be maintained indefinitely without compromising quality.

Keywords: circular economy; polyethylene-terephthalate; PET; post-consumer recycling (PCR) material; bottle-to-bottle; recycling; closed-loop (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:13:p:7370-:d:586499

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