Page 81 - Plastics News August 2024
P. 81
PRODUCT NEWS
A fresh outlook for PET thermoform
latory side, the expansion of deposit programs
across the country will increase PET thermoform
concentrations in MRFs by diverting PET bottles
away from the curbside stream. In Quebec, for
instance, the newly expanded program will in-
clude all beverage containers over 100 ml by
March 2025. On the voluntary side, many brands
and retailers are turning to PET thermoforms as
alternatives to harder-to-recycle materials, such
as polystyrene (PS) trays. In Canada, thermo-
forms are identified as a preferable alternative
ET bottles are often identified as the to PS in different eco-design resources, includ-
most commonly recycled plastic in North ing in the Golden Design Rules for Plastic Pack-
PAmerica. However, some technical and aging adapted to the Canadian market by the
economic barriers can limit the recycling of oth- Canada Plastics Pact.
er PET packaging formats, such as thermofor- A challenge designed for the Circular Plastics
med trays and clamshells, from being effectively Taskforce
recycled. This represents a significant undertak-
ing for the industry, knowing that the use of PET Founded in January 2020, the Circular Plastics
thermoforms for all types of packaging (such as Taskforce (CPT) is a non-for-profit organization
food, electronics, and cosmetics) has increased that was born out of the unprecedented col-
significantly over the past few years. laboration between leading Canadian beverage
and food companies, packaging manufacturers
In Canada, PET thermoforms are accepted in and industry associations. Since its inception,
curbside collection systems, with a successful the group’s unique federating approach has at-
collection rate of over 50%. Currently, the most tracted the support of government and industry
common practice consists of mixing PET ther- partners, positioning it as a leading circularity
moforms into PET bottle bales, which are then organization in Canada and North America. The
sorted and washed to be used into different ap- CPT’s mission is simple but ambitious: to support
plications. However, due to their greater brittle- the building of a circular economy for all post-
ness, processing PET thermoforms with bottles consumer plastics put on the market in Canada.
can lower the overall recycling yield and affect
the quality of the recycled output, which limits The work of the CPT focuses on what it calls the
its use in some end-markets. “orphans of the bin.” By that, the CPT means
resin types or packaging formats that are usu-
These challenges are only going to be exacer- ally accepted in Canadian curbside collection
bated in upcoming years in Canada, as the vol- systems, but don’t currently have a solid path
ume of thermoforms is expected to rise, both for towards circularity, whether it is due to sorting
regulatory and voluntary reasons. On the regu-
issues, inadequate recycling infrastructure or
August 2024 PLASTICS NEWS 83
