Extrusion International 3-2021

28 Extrusion International 3/2021 RECYCLING A total of more than 25 ReFresher modules sold, 19 were ordered in the past 18 months alone. This development goes hand in hand with the enormous increase in interest in the use of post consumer recyclate. “Odour is a typi- cal problem with contaminated household waste such as LDPE fi lms, HDPE containers and PE closures. It is essential that odour is removed if the PCR material is to be reused in high quality packaging for cosmetic products or food,” explains Clemens Kitzberger, EREMA Group Business De- velopment Manager for Post Consumer Applications. This development is driven by two factors: fi rstly, the ambitious recycling goals set by the European Union, specifying that by 2025, fi fty percent of plastic packag- ing waste must be recycled, and secondly, the fact that recycling technologies are becoming more and more ef fi - cient. “Both of these factors have made possible for post consumer recyclate applications things that were unimag- inable a few years ago, and this trend is set to continue. That is because the EU’s recycling goals will mean reusing 10 million tonnes of recyclates in new products every year in future,” says Kitzberger. An outstanding example of a high-end product made from post consumer recyclate is the cosmetics packaging that was launched as a world fi rst in spring 2019. This was a shower gel bottle made from 100 percent PCR-HDPE. The recyclate is produced by an INTAREMA ® TVEplus ® Re- grindPro ® machine plus ReFresher module. Closures as additional input for food packaging made of PCR- HDPE The superclean recycling process was also certi fi ed by the FDA in August 2019 as suitable for the production of Reduced Odour – An Indispensable Quality Criterion in Post-Consumer Plastics Recycling There has been a noticeable increase in demand for EREMA recyclingmachine combinations featuring ReFresher technology that reduces odour downstream of the extrusion process. This is due to the growing demand for high-quality post consumer recyclates that can be used for a wide variety of applications. Thanks to the combination of its INTAREMA ® TVEplus ® RegrindPro ® machine with the ReFresher, EREMA has enabled the PCR-HDPE produced with it to be used in proportions of up to 100 percent for the production of packaging for direct contact with food and beverages, as con fi rmed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) In the EREMA Customer Centre, test runs using an industrial class extruder- ReFresher combination can also be carried out since April onwards. Michael Heitzinger, Clemens Kitzberger and Thomas Hofstätter very much hope that more customer visits will be possible soon (Photo credit: EREMA)