Extrusion International 4-2016

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42 Extrusion International 4/2016 RECYCLING
of 57 per cent. In 2014, for example, 1.75 million tonnes
of post-consumer PET wastes were collected. Here, again,
the collection rates vary greatly. While Germany, Italy and
Switzerland collect about half of the total volume, some
countries achieve a collection rate of only 10 to 20 per cent.
The PET sector is enjoying rising collection rates overall,
which, according to PCI PET Packaging, Resins & Recycling
Ltd., should increase by a further 3 to 5 per cent per year by
2019. However, it is almost exclusively bottles that are col-
lected, usually in dedicated collection schemes. Although it
was originally the goal to return the collected bottle flakes
to bottle production, the industry has sought and found
customers in other areas. For film/sheet manufacturers,
post-consumer bottle flakes have become increasingly in-
teresting, and in 2014 they used the biggest share – 34 per
cent – of the collected residuals in their branch of industry.
Almost 30 per cent of the flakes were used in blowmould-
ing applications, 26 per cent in the fibre industry and the
rest for packing straps and other products.
PVC recycling achieves high utilisation rates
The recycling of PVC, a material whose outstanding me-
chanical properties have made it indispensable – partic-
ularly in the building sector, where it has a 70 per cent
share, but also in the packaging, furniture and medical
technology segments – has developed very encourag-
ingly in the last few years. According to a Consultic study
commissioned by PlasticsEurope, the demand for PVC in
Europe came to 4.9 million tonnes in 2014, making it the
third most used plastic after PP and PE. Germany accounts
for 1.56 million tonnes of this, or roughly a third of to-
tal demand. Since PVC is often employed in very durable
products like windows, pipes and floorcoverings, “only”
650,000 tonnes are available for reutilisation each year,
with about 520,000 tonnes of this coming from post-
consumer applications and 130,000 tonnes being indus-
trial wastes. The reutilisation rate for PVC wastes is 99 per
cent, with only 1 per cent being disposed of. Of the 99 per
cent that is reutilised, 62 per cent, i.e. 396,000 tonnes, is
used for energy recovery and the rest is recycled. The re-
cycled PVC generated in this way is put to use particularly
in building applications, e.g. in new profiles and pipes,
as well as in horticulture and agriculture. “Our sector has
been concerned with the recycling of PVC for over 25
years, so we already have a very well developed network
today,” says Thomas Hülsmann, Managing Director of Ar-
beitsgemeinschaft PVC und Umwelt e.V., Bonn. At www.
, many PVC-processing companies
are listed. Just how important recycling is for the sector
is expressed by the European voluntary commitment that
is supported by the leading plastics associations. In the
most recent voluntary commitment “VinylPlus”, the com-
panies of the sector undertake to reutilise 800,000 tonnes
of wastes for recycling and energy recovery by 2020. This
demonstrates the forward-looking and sustainable posi-
tion adopted by the sector, Hülsmann adds.
Composites are often unsuitable for recycling
While post-consumer products made of pure polymers
lend themselves well to reprocessing, the situation for
composite products consisting of two or more raw mate-
rials is entirely different. These wastes are in most cases
unsuitable for recycling. Dr Michael Scriba, mtm-plastics
Managing Director and member of Plastics Recyclers Eu-
rope (PRE) and of Bundesverband Sekundärrohstoffe und
Entsorgung [Federation for Secondary Resources and Dis-
posal] (bvse), is therefore calling for the recycling-friendly
design of the packages that contribute a large proportion
For many products, such as bin liners, it has
already become commonplace today to use
recyclate. This makes good economic and
ecological sense. Image: Polifilm