Colour Tone, additive and masterbatch manufacturer, will be attending PDM 2018, 19th-20th June 2018, urging producers and retailers to look beyond the removal of carbon black pigments to help optimise the detection and sorting of non-clear plastics packaging for recycling.
“Carbon black pigment is an extremely efficient absorber of infrared, but if you remove it from a colour it does not necessarily solve inherent optical detection problems," said Tony Gaukroger, Colour Tone Director.
"Since all coloured pigments have their own individual characteristics or infrared ‘footprints’ with varying degrees of infrared absorption, the combination of these too can inhibit the ability to NIR sort."
In response Luxus subsidiary, Colour Tone, has launched a rapid coloured polymer analysis service that tests for ‘end-of-life’ recyclability of non-clear packaging.
Users will be able to detect if their plastic packaging can be detected via near-infrared (NIR) sorting, enabling produces and retailers to assess if any coloured plastic item produced offers an indicative view of whether it can be detected.
If not, the service will provide a colour matched infrared detectable alternative based on its colourant technology.
Capable of reading solar reflectance in the near-infrared spectrum, a new spectrophotometer is supporting this service, displaying the measurement of reflectance levels by generating graphical displays of each individual colourant wavelengths to ensure specified polymers do not inhibit near-infrared sorting.
Tony Gaukroger, Colour Tone’s Director, will be delivering a presentation as part of the show’s sustainability programme, ‘Designing for end of life-finding a solution for non-clear plastic packaging waste’ on the second day of PDM.