AMB establishes closed-loop tray recycling as rPET competition intensifies

21 Mar 2022 --- AMB has developed a tray-to-tray recycling solution called TrayRevive, which uses post-consumer trays to create new ones. The closed-loop solution secures recycled PET (rPET) supply for trays as demand for recycled bottles increases substantially.

The Italian-headquartered company expects that the rising demand for bottle-to-bottle recycling will use up to 0.5 million metric tons of rPET and cause shortages for recycled tray production.

The soft drinks industry has warned that recycled plastic prices are skyrocketing worldwide as industries fight for market control to boost their environmental sustainability credentials. Packaged beverage companies are concerned that the textile, automotive, and toy industries are dipping into their recyclate supply while contributing less to its availability.

According to data group ICIS, the cost of rPET has risen to 103% in the past year.AMB’s tray-to-tray recycling solution secures recyclate as cross-industry competition for rPET supply intensifies.

Italian job
AMB launched the initiative to collect material from post-consumer trays to create a closed-loop recycling system for food trays in partnership with an Italian recycler. The material is broken down into flakes, which are then used to manufacture a tray-to-tray product.

The packaging company notes that European design recycling guidelines for multilayer PET/PE transparent trays are being developed as the demand for PET flakes grows.

The raw material is 95% sourced from the food tray stream and undergoes a strict analysis process. The post-consumer tray material is processed to avoid contaminations, and the quality of the flakes is then evaluated.

AMB assesses the material for its impact on the extrusion process and its mechanical performance. Additionally, the new film is subject to controls that evaluate its optical aspect and quality and impact on the thermoforming process.

These checks ensure that customers can rely on the final tray’s quality, including unchanged mechanical and thermoforming performance on form fill seal. Meanwhile, the gauge remains the same as for standard PET/PE or Mono PET.

Recyclable packaging
The Tray Revive is part of a wider strategy that includes improving collaboration and cooperation among AMB stakeholders to help develop circular economies for packaging.

Last year, AMB unveiled a series of monomaterial PET films for optimizing food preservation and reducing retailer and consumer food waste.

The TotalMono PET monomaterial films also help producers meet the EU’s more stringent recyclability demands, requiring all packaging to be fully recyclable by 2030.

By Joshua Poole

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