PET tray-to-tray
Greiner Packaging processes material from yellow bags into beverage trays
Together with its partners, Greiner Packaging is taking yet another step towards a circular economy: In future, Rauch brand beverages will also be presented in supermarkets in trays made of 70% PCR (post-consumer recycled) r-PET material.
Supermarket shoppers are all familiar with them: practical trays from which beverage bottles can be removed quickly and easily. They allow for efficient, space-saving, and safe transport of bottles and save supermarket employees the time-consuming task of putting them on the shelves. Taking a further step towards sustainability, Rauch Fruchtsäfte will in future be using beverage trays made of recycled material – the new trays are made of 70% recycled PET.
Material taken from yellow bags is used for the beverage trays. In the course of a project, it was proven that r-PET flakes can be produced from post-consumer material by means of thorough pre- and post-sorting followed by shredding and washing. From these flakes, a PET film (70% recycled material) is subsequently extruded, which is then thermoformed into r-PET trays by the Greiner Packaging business unit Greiner Assistec. In terms of quality, the recycled trays are in no way inferior to beverage trays made of new material.
The r-PET flakes are produced from input materials other than PET beverage bottles, such as cups, tubs, and trays. The project thus shows that it is possible to establish alternative PET value flows. After all, to produce packaging from recycled PET, the plastics industry today mainly uses r-PET flakes obtained by recycling PET bottles. This “bottle flow” is already well-established. The potential for recycling other PET packaging from the yellow bag, on the other hand, is not yet being exploited to any great extent. However, the aim is to establish corresponding recycling streams on a large scale in the future.
For us, creating beverage trays from r-PET material that does not come from the bottle flow is a great opportunity: On the one hand, it means we are focusing on a sustainable product. On the other hand, we are promoting a tray-to-tray cycle. As a beverage manufacturer, we are of course particularly keen to ensure that high-quality r-PET from the bottle flow is also available for the production of new r-PET bottles and that alternative forms of packaging are used for the manufacture of other products
