Recycled PET
PET Recycling
PET is a versatile polymer recognised for being lightweight, durable, and highly recyclable which has led to the material being used globally as a packaging medium for many and varying applications, most notably beverages and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG’s).
RPET is gaining traction as businesses and brand owners commit to sustainability targets in a bid to improve the circularity of their products and packaging.
PET Recycled Plastic or rPET as it is commonly referred to can and is being used back into food packaging where FDA compliance is required. In most cases, rPET can be used at 100% as a direct substitute to virgin PET plastic, this has been well documented in beverages, meat and fresh produce packaging, cosmetics and household cleaning products.
You might ask yourself how this is all possible, let’s break it down.
The equipment and technology to process and convert PET waste streams back into food contact “FDA compliant resin” is available and has been for quite a few years. Martogg uses Vacurema® technology which processes pre-consumer and post-consumer PET waste streams through high vacuum KT-reactors which super-cleans, removes any residual volatiles and re-builds IV to produce food grade rPET branded marPET®
Prior to the PET waste streams being passed through the Vacurema® line, it must first be collected, sorted, and washed – see below for a diagram depicting the process.