An innovation from Avery Dennison that enables closed-loop PET recycling has won this year’s FINAT Recycling and Sustainability award.
The CleanFlake portfolio enables production of high quality rPET from post-consumer bottles while maintaining all-important visual impact and food contact approval.
The portfolio is further reducing environmental impact by using rPET liner material.
Jeroen Diderich, Vice President and General Manager EMEA, said: “FINAT is an important organisation representing our customer base and we are delighted with this win.”
“CleanFlake technology is one example of the many initiatives we are introducing to reduce material use and waste. Generating clean PET flakes, free of label and ink contamination, is a difficult task for recyclers.”
“We worked to develop a label that would separate from bottles completely in a conventional recycling facility, and CleanFlake can close the loop, generating high quality rPET suitable for making new PET bottles or other food packaging.”
The portfolio meets many application needs, with a clear ‘no label look’ rigid facestock, a cavitated white version, and flexible facestocks that can adapt to semi-squeezable containers or dimensional changes in freshly blown bottles, eliminating or significantly reducing label wrinkle benefits.
Jenny Wassenaar, Sustainability and Compliance Director, said: “Our analysis shows that using a million square metres of rPET reduces fossil fuel use by 30 per cent, energy use by 23 per cent, and water by 20 per cent.”