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A collaboration project involving the companies BASF, Krones, , and
TOMRA has demonstrated the separation of PET/PE multi-layer thermoformed packaging into its individual components. During the first industrial trial conducted at a Krones pilot plant in Flensburg, Germany, the partners were able to completely separate as much as 69% of the PET and PE components, and partially separate another 12%. The approach uses existing infrastructure only to recycle the multilayer packaging.

The first phase of the project was initiated in early 2021 when TOMRA conducted the first sorting trials with PET/PE trays. These trays had been manufactured by Sudpack using water-based lamination with a debonding adhesive developed by BASF. TOMRA’s Autosort NIR technology was able to detect and separate trays containing the BASF adhesive.

Krones joined the collaboration in 2022 and has used a standard hot wash process, commonly used in PET recycling, to demonstrate that the PE and PET layers can be seperated at industrial scale.

By adjusting various parameters of the recycling process and by further developing the lamination adhesive used, the project partners see additional opportunities for improving the recycling rate for plastics. Recycled material quality is a major focus of the ongoing project. The aim is to be able to re-use the PET for the manufacture of food packaging, while the PE fraction will be used as a raw material to make new packaging for the non-food industry.