Tomra delivers advanced sorting tech for tray-to-tray PET recycling

Spain-based Sulayr Recycling has integrated Tomra Recycling’s advanced sorting solutions to enhance its transparent-to-transparent, tray-to-tray PET recycling operations. 

Sulayr specializes in recycling complex and multilayer thermoformed PET trays. It aims to transform post-consumer material into new food-grade trays with full traceability. 

The material Sulayr processes is primarily sourced from post-consumer PET tray streams via EPR systems. The input material can be different depending on its origin and the time of year, and sometimes includes other PET types, multilayer structures, and polymer contaminants.

To confront the challenge, Sulayr and Tomra have partnered to co-design and improve the sorting process. 

Jesús Espinar, area sales manager at Tomra Recycling, says: “Advanced technology is essential. But what really makes projects like this work is the partnership approach. When strong partners bring their combined expertise to the table and work closely together, tray-to-tray recycling can be scaled reliably. This benchmark process for the recycling industry is definitive proof of that.”

“Our shared responsibility was to design a process that performs reliably and consistently delivers the high quality required by current European regulatory standards, while providing the flexibility to adapt as those requirements become even more stringent in the future.”

Tech-driven solutions

Tomra’s dual-track Autosort and an Innosort Flake system are fully integrated into Sulayr’s industrial configuration. The process chain incorporates material reception, optical sorting at tray level, washing, grinding, flake purification, and final extrusion into tray-grade rPET.

The dual-track Autosort is a multifunctional sorting allrounder. Its configuration allows two independent sorting steps within a single unit. In the first track, PET Clear/Light Blue is positively ejected from the mixed stream. In the second track, the remaining non-target materials are removed through negative sorting, where contaminants are ejected to leave a high-purity final product.

This combination is said to enhance recovery and final purity while maintaining high throughput.

Following shredding, the Innosort Flake performs the final purification step to secure the quality levels required for food-grade applications. The system can detect flakes by polymer type, color, and transparency in a single sorting step.

The unit’s multistage configuration allows purification steps, while a recovery stage allows any valuable PET still present in the rejected fractions to be reintroduced into the process. The result of the integrated setup is said to achieve a stable purity level above 99.8% under real operating conditions.

Sergio Collado, chief technology officer at Sulayr, says: “As quality requirements evolved, stability became just as critical as purity. For tray-to-tray applications, you need a process that delivers consistent results every single day — not just under ideal conditions.”

Despite the solution’s focus remaining on transparent PET trays, certain colored tray fractions can also be valorized depending on market demand and customer specifications, according to the companies.

Antonio Jesús Marcos, head of marketing at Sulayr, says: “What made the difference was how closely we worked together with Tomra during integration. It was not just about installing equipment. We aligned on process details, performance targets, and long-term stability. The focus was always on results under real operating conditions, rather than on theoretical figures.”