Designing Plastic Bottles to be Recyclable APR Design for Recycling Guidelines Keith Bechard, Entropex October 22nd, 2008

Background The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers, APR, is the trade association for recycling used plastic bottle. While APR offers information in good faith, APR does not certify or guarantee recyclability.

Plastics Bottle Recycling Two factors influencing recovery: Critical mass and Compatibility.

Plastics Bottle Recycling What to recycle? Focus on PET and HDPE bottles because of critical mass. Emerging Brand Owner and chemical industry interest to recover polypropylene (PP).

Plastics Bottle Recycling Compatibility means: Minimal disruption of the recovery process and Minimal effect on the recycle product.

Design for Recycling Program Design Guidelines for Plastic Bottle Recycling Written 1997; updated 2003, 2006, and 2008

Design for Recycling Program Design Guidelines for Plastic Bottle Recycling available at plasticsrecycling.org

PET-Color Transparent colors: Green & light blue OK, Others are generally undesirable. Some reclaimers tolerate amber bottles. Avoid translucent and opaque colors

PET – PVC parts NO PVC closures; PVC closure liners; PVC labels (including shrink labels); PVC sleeves (shrink sleeves) and PVC safety seals on PET bottles.

PET – labels Only FLOATING labels, please Paper labels undesirable “See through” full body sleeve for autosortation

PET – closures All closures MUST float in water. PP closures preferred. (no ‘mineral filled’ PP, please)

PET – inks and adhesives Adhesives release in hot water. No adhesive residue on PET Avoid inks that bleed in hot water

PET – direct printing Only date coding, please. No direct print label. (less common today)

PET – barrier layers, coatings, & additives-1 Avoid additives that discolor and/or haze PET after remelting. No yellowing, please

PET – barrier layers, coatings, & additives-2 Blends of PET and other resins are acceptable if they are compatible with PET recycling. (few are)

PET – barrier layers, coatings, & additives-3 Non-PET layers and coatings are acceptable, if they are compatible with PET or easily separate from PET in conventional recycling systems.

PET – barrier layers, coatings, & additives-4 EVOH, nylons, carbon, and silicon oxide barrier layers or coatings are currently tolerated provided the layers/coatings readily separate and can be isolated or have been shown not to be a problem.

PET - attachments Attachments discouraged; RFID’s on bottles discouraged. (Silver paint could be a health problem)

PET – recycled content postconsumer Use postconsumer PET in bottles.

Copolymer HDPE Non-HDPE components should be compatible with the base resin (copolymer HDPE) or easily removed (sink in water).

Copolymer HDPE – closures & attachments HDPE preferred; No PVC closures or closure liners; PP closures and attachments at 5% or less of package weight; RFID’s on bottles discouraged.

Copolymer HDPE – labels Paper labels are undesirable; Shrink sleeve labels preferred, no adhesive and “See through” full body sleeve for autosortation (opaque labels problematic)

Copolymer HDPE – inks and adhesives “Hot melt” adhesives should readily separate from the plastic and does not cause problems to the process or product.

Copolymer HDPE -layers Avoid non-HDPE layers, unless they are compatible or easily separable Minimize EVOH or nylon layers.

Copolymer HDPE -additives Limit additives, such as calcium carbonate, so the HDPE plastic still floats in water; ( max CaCO 3 under 3%).

HDPE – natural and pigmented Recycled Content postconsumer Use postconsumer HDPE in bottles.

Polypropylene Any non-PP component of a bottle should be compatible with the base resin (PP) or removed efficiently in conventional separation systems.

Polypropylene - color Unpigmented PP bottles are generally preferred.

Polypropylene - attachments PVC is undesirable ; HDPE or LDPE attachments should be less than 5% of the bottle weight

PVC bottles PVC bottles are undesirable IF bottles are included with bales of PET or HDPE bottles.

PVC bottles APR recommends the following:  Avoid PET attachments;  Closures of polyolefin;  Labels of PVC or polyolefin, not PET;  No bleeding inks

Other Resins For established infrastructure, bottles made from resins other than PET or HDPE will generally introduce contamination unless compatibility demonstrated or separation assured.

Other Resins New bottle resins should follow the same general recycling guidelines established for other resin types.

Other Resins Unpigmented bottles best; PE or PP label and closures; Compatible or readily separable attachments, layers, and additives; Postconsumer content encouraged.

Other Resins To be recycled as that resin, need 1.At least 50 M lbs collected (which has meant at least 200 M lbs in market); 2.Need uniform collected material; 3.Need efficient recycling process and 4.Need end market to offset recovery.

Design for Recycling Program Design Guidelines for Plastic Bottle Recycling available at plasticsrecycling.org

“Sustainable means recycling. Plastics recycling means APR”