As a contribution to the circular economy concept, leading waste collection and processing firms in Austria have joined an initiative launched by recycling machinery manufacturer Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen (NGR, Feldkirchen; www.ngr.at) to demonstrate that PET waste apart from bottles can be successfully recycled into high-end products. The "RePETitio" initiative got under way in June with collection of PET household waste such as blister packaging, thermoformed trays and films.

Two collection companies, Landes-Abfallunternehmen (AVU, Wels; www.lavu.at) and Altstoff Recycling Austria (ARA, Vienna; www.ara.at), have been tasked with sorting the waste into six material types. From this, plastics recycler Kruschitz (Völkermarkt; www.kruschitz-plastic.com) will produce high-quality flake. In the next step, the flake will be reprocessed and decontaminated at Feldkirchen, using NGR’s liquid state polycondensation (LSP) process to produce both PET resin and sheet.

Farther down the line, Teufelberger (Wels, www.teufelberger.com) will use the recycled PET to produce strapping with high mechanical strength requirements, while Greiner Packaging (Kremsmünster; www.greiner-gpi.com) will manufactures bottles and thermoformed trays for food and non-food applications. The goal is for all products made of rPET to be comparable to those made with virgin material.

RePETitio, which is envisaged to run until September 2020, is receiving financial support from the regional government of Upper Austria, backed by funds from the “Innovative Upper Austria 2020” strategic economic and research programme. Applied research company Transfercenter für Kunststofftechnik (TCKT, Wels; www.tckt.at) is providing scientific support.