In Brazil, 40% of post-consumption PET packaging was recycled in 2003, totaling 120,000 tonnes. The bottles are collected by street collectors, factories and municipal separated waste collection services.

The official curbside collection services now operating in over Brazilian 200 cities recover around 1,000 tonnes per year. In addition to disposable bottles, there are also 70 million returnable soda bottles on the Brazilian market made from the same material.

In the US, the recycling rate for PET has been falling: from 27% in 1997 to 25% in 1998, 23.7 % in 1999, 22.3% in 2000, 21% in 2001 and 19% in 2002. Nevertheless, the number of bottles recycled increased from 294,000 tonnes in 1997 to 320,000 in 1998 to 350,000 in 1999 and 349,000 in 2000, while in Brazil PET recycling has grown at an annual rate of around 18%, with 89,000 tonnes recycled in 2001 compared to 105,000 in 2002.

The recycling of PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) packaging, such as 1 liter, 1.5 liter, 2 liter, 2.5 liter and 0.6 liter disposable bottles, is increasing rapidly in Brazil. The material - a thermoplastic polyester - is characteristically light, resistant and transparent, ideal for satisfying domestic consumer demand for packaging for soda and other products, such as cleaning products and comestibles in general. The evolution of the market and technological advances have stimulated new applications for recycled PET, from rope and sowing thread, to carpets, trays for eggs and fruit and even new bottles for non-food products, given that this application is not yet permitted for foodstuffs by ANVISA (the Brazilian Agency for Sanitary Vigilance). Its recycling, in addition to avoiding more plastic being dumped in landfills, uses only 0.3% of the energy needed in the production of virgin PET. And it has the advantage of being able to be recycled various times without compromising the quality of the final product.

In Rio de Janeiro, plastics account for an average 10% of the weight in urban refuse.

In separated waste, PET accounts for an average 17% of the recyclable plastics.

PET was developed in 1941 by the British chemists Whinfield and Dickson. Bottles produced from this polymer, however, only began to be manufactured in the seventies, after careful review of the safety and environmental aspects. At the beginning of the eighties, the US and Canada began to the collection of these bottles, recycling them initially for pillow stuffing. With the improved quality of the recycled PET, new applications arose, such as for cloth, razor blades, and bottles for non-food items. Later, in the nineties, the US government authorized the use of this recycled material in food packaging.

CONTAMINATION

The principal contaminants of recycled PET soda bottles are adhesives (glue) used for the label and other plastics of the same density, such as PVC. Most of the cleaning processes are unable to prevent traces of these undesirable products remaining in the PET flakes. The glue acts as a catalyst in hydrolytic degradation when the material is submitted to high temperatures in the extrusion process, as well as darkening and hardening the recycled PET. The same can occur with Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), which composes other types of bottles and cannot be mixed with PET scrap. Special attention must be paid to labels produced with thermo-shrinkable PVC, a material which, thanks to its versatility and visual appeal, is being used more frequently. The aluminum found in some tops can be tolerated only up to a level of 50 parts per million in the recycled material.

Strict specifications for the raw material

The selection and pre-processing of the scrap is extremely important for guaranteeing quality in the recycled material. Selection can be made either by the symbol identifying the material or by the product that the packaging contained. For example, 100% of plastic bottles for soda drinks are made of PET. Separation can be accomplished either manually or mechanically by, for example, optic sensors. After pressing, the contaminants must be removed, separating them by their difference in density in water or air jets. In addition to the label (polyethylene or paper), top (polypropylene, high density PET or aluminum) drinks residue and other detritus must be removed by means of washing.

Reduction at source

In the case of 2-liter PET bottles, the ratio between weight (around 50g) and contents is one of the most favorable among disposable packaging. In the production of soda bottles (a product consuming 80% of the PET produced), consumption of water is 2 liters per liter of soda. In the production of returnable bottles, this ratio is 6.5 liters of water for each liter of soda produced.

Composting

The material cannot be used in composting.

Incineration

PET is highly combustible, with a value of around 20,000 BTUs/kilo, and releases residual gases such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, acetaldehyde, vinyl benzoate and benzoic acid. Incineration of the material is not recommended, however, even with recovery of energy, due to its high scrap value.

Landfill

Decomposition is extremely slow in sanitary landfills.

Back to the origins

RECUPERATION: In this phase, packaging that would be thrown away as common refuse gains the status of raw material. The recuperated packaging is separated by color and then compacted. Separation by color is necessary to ensure that products resulting from the process are of uniform color, thereby facilitating their application on the market. Compacting is important to reduce the size of packaging to be transported. As already mentioned, PET is extremely light.

REVALUATION: The bottles are flaked, gaining market value. The product resulting from this phase is bottle flake. It can be produced in various ways, and the most refined flakes can be used directly as raw material in the manufacture of various products that recycled PET is used for in the transformation stage. However, the product can be given even greater value by producing pellets. The product becomes much more condensed, optimizing transport and performance in the transformation stage.

TRANSFORMATION: The stage in which the flakes, or pellets, are transformed into a new product, ending the cycle. The transformers use recycled PET to manufacture various products, including new bottles for non-food products.