New life for recycled PET bottles
Providing a solution to one of the challenges of recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles, Africa’s largest PET recycler, Extrupet recently commissioned a R30m plant in Milnerton, Cape Town to transform coloured PET bottles into strapping for the securing and transportation of bricks, steel, pipes, timber and other industrial materials.
Coloured PET bottles – such as the green ones containing Sprite, brown Stony Ginger Beer containers and others used by certain water brands – pose a problem for recyclers because coloured rPET (that is, recycled PET) is not suitable for all applications, particularly where material has contact with food.
Extrupet, which also recently announced a R200m expansion of its PhoenixPET food-grade rPET facility in Germiston, tapped into European technology and imported a production line from Italian textile machinery manufacturer SIMA to produce its Pro-10 Strap™.
“It is crucial that strapping has the required tensile strength, tenacity and appropriate elasticity to ensure loads remain tightly bound even if they move or the package shrinks after being strapped,” says Extrupet joint MD Chandru Wadhwani. “Quality is vital, which is why we decided to install the system used globally by leading strap manufacturers. We only use high-quality PET, rPET and polypropylene (PP) materials, and had the manufacturing facility accredited as an ISO: 9001-2015 Quality Management Facility.”
Local manufacture, he says, provides additional commercial advantages, including cost benefits, reduced lead times and minimum order quantities, and less risk in terms of exposure to port and shipping delays.
“All of this and clients support a proudly South African company, which is committed
to doing what is best for the environment in SA by increasing the rate of recycling and growing employment, not only within its own operation, but among pickers, collectors and buy-back centres of used PET bottles,” says Wadhwani.
In addition, he says, Extrupet is continually looking for ways to reduce the environmental impact of its products and to work towards a circular economy. Accordingly, the Pro10 Strap ™– which is available in sizes ranging from 5mm to 25mm wide and 0.5mm to 1.27mm thick – is fully recyclable, and plans are being finalised to provide for collection and recycling of postconsumer strapping. This, adds Wadhwani, will increasingly become a priority for companies, expedited by the fact that government categorises strapping as packaging, which means that waste management regulations will apply.
LOCAL MANUFACTURE PROVIDES ADDED COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES