Firm to use chemical process to recycle PET bottles

Five other companies are also developing food-grade plastics recycling plants in the UK at the moment, but Petagain is aiming to use a chemical recycling process that will allow it to take all kinds of PET plastic bottles – not just clear or blue bottles.

The site of the new facility has not been decided yet but is expected to be in the north east of England. The company said this location will help it tap into a supply of waste plastics coming from councils in Scotland and the north of England, where collection schemes are beginning to be launched.

Petagain, which started up about a year ago, plans to take most of its feedstock – including thermoformed packaging such as food trays, as well as bottles – from local authority household collections. It is presently in talks with a reprocessor in the north of England, who could supply it with sorted and baled PET bottles.

The company will use chemical processes to convert the waste plastic into pellets with a 50% recycled content, which will be sold to manufacturers of food grade packaging.

Company chief executive Peter Reineck said: “Our aim is to produce virgin quality PET using a chemical recycling process which uses the entire post-consumer PET waste stream. This is in contrast to mechanical processes which are normally only able to use clear and blue bottles.”

Chemical process

Other companies developing food-grade PET bottle recycling projects in the UK at the moment include Newcastle-based Alternative Waste Solutions, St Albans-based Baylis Recycling, Lancashire firm Intercontinental Recycling, Scottish firm PET Processors and Closed Loop London, which is based in the capital.

Mr Reineck said his company's project would be able to take all colours of PET plastic bottles as well as thermoformed packaging such as trays thanks to the chemical process. He said mechanical processes could usually only handle clear and light blue bottles.

Although he could not reveal exact details of the technology because the company is still in the process of selecting its specific equipment, Mr Reineck said the process would work by converting the plastic into a liquid. Contaminants will be removed from the polymer solution before it is converted back into a solid polymer.

The chief executive added that the chemical process was a “second generation” technology which had built on mechanical processes. He said contaminants could be removed more easily with the chemical process and that it would eliminate the need for manual pickers.