The world´s first commercial demonstration of closed loop recycling for HDPE milk bottles has been completed in the UK. The project, organised by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP, London / UK; www.wrap.org.uk), produced and filled 60,000 four-pint (2.3 litre) capacity bottles containing a 30% recycled content of HDPE that went on sale by retailer Marks & Spencer in December 2006. No consumer reaction to the packaging was received, demonstrating the bottles were indistinguishable from their counterparts produced from virgin polymer.

Participants in the project included blow moulder Nampak Plastics (Newport Pagnell / UK; www.eu.plastics.nam pak.com), recycling specialists Sorema (Alzate Brianza / Italy; www.sorema.it) and Erema (Ansfelden, Linz /Austria; www.erema.com) and the German Fraunhofer Institute (www.fraunhofer.de). Post-consumer, sorted HDPE bottles were flaked and washed in a 2% caustic solution at 93 °C to remove all surface dirt, paper labels and adhesive. The flakes were then dried and colour sorted before being put through a super-clean recycling process. The food grade polymer was then added to virgin HDPE at a 30% concentration before being blow moulded into fresh milk bottles. WRAP is now negotiating contracts to provide financial support to potential recyclers to establish the process commercially in the UK.