Sustainability Glossary

In PET recycling, the residue left on PET flakes after the caustic wash phase of the recycling process. For optimum PET plastic recycling and true circularity, label adhesives must fully release from the PET flake and adhere to the label facestock during the caustic wash Any adhesive that remains on the PET flake or is “loose” in the wash cycle discolors the reclaimed PET (rPET) and lowers the yield, resulting in less material for food-grade, package-to-package recycling.

Air Elutriation (Separation)

A process in PET plastic recycling in which streams of air are used to blow lighter-weight materials, such as paper and film, off of the reclaimed PET flake.

American Chemistry Council (ACC)

Trade association whose mission to promote the interests of companies engaged in the business of chemistry. Plastics is a key industry for this organization, and they work to promote plastic recycling as well as innovations that advance the field.

Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR)

Trade association representing companies who acquire, reprocess and sell the output of more than 90 percent of the post-consumer plastic processing capacity in North America. APR’s goal is to expand the post-consumer plastics recycling industry through a cooperative effort aimed at identifying and eliminating barriers to successful commercial recycling.

APR DesignTM Guide for Plastics Recyclability

A guide from the Association of Plastics Recyclers for North America, highlighting best practices in plastic package design and decoration to ensure packages are technically compatible with recycling technology.

APR Recognition Program

A service of the Association of Plastic Recyclers for North America that provides for the submission of fully decorated product containers to a third-party laboratory to determine their compatibility with recycling processes. Packages are put through a series of steps that replicate recycling. The resulting flake is then evaluated against a set of criteria and given a Pass or Fail rating

Bale

A compressed unit of PET bottles which maximizes the overall volume of materials for transportation.

Biomass

Material of biological origin, excluding material embedded in geological formations or transformed to fossilized material and excluding peat.

Caustic wash

Process used in PET plastic recycling to separate contamination from PET flakes. PET flakes are introduced into a warm caustic solution and “scrubbed” to remove any remaining food matter, dirt and adhesives. Traditional pressure-sensitive adhesives do not cleanly release from the PET flake in this process. The Avery Dennison CleanFlakeTM portfolio features an adhesive designed to “switch off” in the caustic bath, allowing the adhesive and label to cleanly separate from the PET flake.

China Plastics Reuse and Recycling Association (CPRRA)

The largest national association of recycling professionals in China. 700-plus member companies, from plastic recyclers to media. Mission: to promote materials recycling and facilitate free and fair trade of recyclables in a sustainable and competitive world economy.

“Clean” flake

The resulting PET granules after full processing which are then suitable for use in manufacturing recycled plastics.

Closed- loop system

A system in which materials are reclaimed, returned to, and reused at the same material technical application equivalence or performance specifications as when the material was first used.

Colour sorting

The process of separating plastic packaging by colour. Clear, blue and green plastic are separated for food-grade r-plastic. Other colors can be downcycled and used in a variety of different industries.

Compostability

A characteristic of a product, packaging, or associated component that allows it to biodegrade, generating a relatively homogeneous and stable humus-like substance.

Degradable

A characteristic of a product or packaging that, with respect to specific conditions, allows it to break down to a specific extent within a given time.

“Dirty” flake

The PET flakes resulting from the recycling process’ initial bottle grind. Little or no separation of contaminants has occurred at this stage of processing.

Eco design

A multi-disciplinary and criteria-based process for developing products that have the best positive social, environmental, and financial impact. Eco design generally governs the entire product development process, from ideation to implementation.

European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP)

The European PET Bottle Platform is a voluntary industry initiative that provides PET bottle design guidelines for recycling; evaluates PET bottle packaging solutions and technologies; and facilitates understanding of the effects of new PET bottle innovations on recycling processes.

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

A public policy tool that extends a producer’s full or partial financial and/or operational responsibility for a product to the postconsumer state of a product’s life cycle in order to help meet recycling and recovery targets.

Food-grade rPET

Reclaimed PET flake that is FDA approved for re-use in the manufacture of plastic packaging for food grade applications. It is also referred to as “FDA Letter of No Objection rPET”.

Green chemistry

The utilisation of a set of principles that reduces or eliminates the use or generation of hazardous substances in the design, manufacture, and application of chemical products.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG)

Gaseous constituent of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic, that absorbs and emits radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of infrared radiation emitted by Earth’s surface, atmosphere, and clouds.

Ink adhesion

The ability of an ink system to adhere to the label substrate on which it is printed and not “bleed.” In PET recycling, it is critical that the ink systems employed on the facestock remain bonded through the caustic wash process. Loose ink pigment will sink with the PET flake in the wash process and contaminate the rPET. Consult your ink manufacturer for a suitable system designed to meet the demands of the PET recycling process.

Ink bleed

The occurrence of label ink leaching or “bleeding” when agitated in hot water as part of the recycling process and discoloring PET flakes, diminishing its value for recycling. The APR and NAPCOR have developed a testing protocol to assist label manufacturers in evaluating whether a label ink will bleed in conventional PET reclaiming systems. Inks that bleed should be avoided.

Life cycle

Consecutive and interlinked stages of a product system, from raw material acquisition or generation from natural resources to final disposal.

Material Recovery Facility (MRF)

A recycling facility that accepts commingled curbside recyclables and separates them into their respective material categories.

Near Infrared Spectrometry (NIR) Sorting

The automated identification and separation of plastics by type (i.e. PET, HDPE) for additional sorting and processing. NIR sensors are used to identify the color and type of the plastic resin as an initial step in the sorting process.

Petcore

Petcore Europe, based in Brussels, is the association that has represented the PET value chain in Europe since 1993.

Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE)

Trade association representing European plastics recyclers who reprocess plastic waste into high-quality material destined for the production of new items. Recyclers are important facilitators of the circularity of plastics and the transition towards circular economy.

Pre-consumer/post industrial waste

Material diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process. Excludes reutilization of materials such as rework, regrind, or scrap generated in a process and capable of being reclaimed within the same process that generated it.

Pressure-sensitive (PS)

Adhesives that adhere to substrates when applied with pressure. No solvent, water or heat is necessary to activate the adhesive.

Post-consumer resin (PCR)

A plastic reclaimed after consumer use that has been re-processed to be re-used in manufacturing, and consists of blended or recycled resins that would have otherwise become waste.

Post-industrial resin

Plastic waste recovered from industrial processes. Consists of blended or recycled resins coming from industrial waste. In contrast to post-consumer resin, post-industrial resin comes from plastic that never made it to the consumer.

Post-consumer waste or post-consumer recycled

Material generated by households or by commercial, industrial, and institutional end-users of a product, and which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. Includes returns of material from the distribution chain.

PTI

Plastic Technology, Inc. is a PET R&D and technical support resource, with offices and labs in the US, Switzerland and India.

Reclaimer / Recycler

A recycling facility that processes plastic containers into “dirty” flake and then into the final “clean” flake used in the manufacture of new plastic materials.

Recovered material

Material that would have otherwise been disposed of as waste or used for energy recovery, but has instead been collected and recovered as a material input, in lieu of new primary material, for a recycling or a manufacturing process.

Recyclable

A characteristic of a product, packaging, or associated component that can be diverted from the waste stream through available processes and programmes and can be collected, processed, and returned to use in the form of raw materials or products.

Recycled content

Proportion, by mass, of recycled material in a product or packaging; only pre-consumer and post-consumer materials are considered recycled content.

Recycled material

Material that has been reprocessed from recovered [reclaimed] material by means of a manufacturing process and made into a final product or into a component for incorporation into a product.

Refillable

A characteristic of a product or packaging that can be filled with the same or similar product more than once, in its original form and without additional processing, except for specified requirements such as cleaning or washing.

Renewable material

Material that is composed of biomass from a living source and that can be continually replenished.

Reusable

A characteristic of a product or packaging that has been conceived and designed to accomplish within its life cycle a certain number of trips, rotations or uses for the same purpose for which it was conceived.

rPET

The acronym for recycled polyethylene terephthalate, or recycled PET. It can be made into food-grade packaging as well as such products as blankets, insulation, car parts, shoes and more.

Shrink sleeves

Wraparound, 360-degree labels that conform to the shape of the container when heated. Typical shrink sleeves are produced from PETG, PVC, copolyester or polystyrene-based resins. They are a primary source of contamination in the PET recycling process because they have a density greater than 1.0. This causes the label material to sink with the PET flake during the separation process. Fully printed shrink sleeves can also interfere with NIR detection, which is used to identify and separate various plastics for further processing.

Sink/Float separation

A water-based process for separating label materials from PET flakes during recycling. PET flakes are agitated in a caustic wash, so that label materials detach and float to the surface, while the PET flakes sink. In this step It is critical for the labeling material to have a density of less than 1 g/cm3 so that it floats. Otherwise, it will sink and contaminate the PET flake.

Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC)

A membership-based collaborative bringing packaging sustainability stakeholders together to catalyze actionable improvements to packaging systems and lend an authoritative voice on issues related to packaging sustainability.

Upgradability

Characteristics of a product that allows its modules or parts to be separately upgraded or replaced without having to replace the entire product.

Utilization rate

The PET utilization rate is the amount of clean PET flake produced from U.S. bottles compared to the recycling rate. In 2013, the recycling rate was 31.2%. The utilization rate was 22.6%. This reflects a loss of nearly one-third of the PET flake produced from recycled bottles. The utilization rate is heavily impacted by various types of contamination, including labels and adhesives. U.S. reclaimers have reported yield losses ranging from 25% for deposit bottles to 35% for curbside material.

Virgin PET

Resin created using virgin petro-chemical inputs and no post-consumer recycled content.

Water whitening

A label defect that is the result of an adhesive system re-emulsifying or “blushing” in the presence of water or moisture, turning the adhesive a milky color. It is caused by applying labels on wet or damp containers. Water whitening can ruin clear-on-clear labels, where appearance and shelf appeal are primary requirements. To avoid it, containers need to be dry prior to labeling.

Yield/Quality

The yield is the material successfully reclaimed through recycling. Any attachment or decoration on a PET container—including its label—can reduce yield, affect the quality of whatever plastic can be reclaimed, and increase recycling costs.

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