Packaging Materials
The most common types of material used for packaging are paper, fibreboard, plastic, glass, steel and aluminium.
• Paper: One of the most widely used packaging materials, particularly corrugated cardboard used for transport packaging. The current recycling rate for paper and board packaging waste is 49%.
• Glass: This is the most common form of packaging waste. Glass can be returned and re-used or recycled easily and a well-established recovery and recycling system exists in the UK. The first bottle-bank in the UK appeared in 1977 and today there are over 20,000. Six billion glass containers are used annually in the UK and the recycling rate is 22%.
• Aluminium: This is commonly used in packaging, such as drinks cans, foils and laminates. It has a high value as a scrap metal with prices ranging from £650-750 per tonne. It can also be recycled economically - 20 recycled aluminium cans can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one.
• Steel: is a widely used packaging material for food, paint and beverage as well as aerosols. Recycling steel brings significant resource and energy savings. The current recycling rate for steel cans is 62%.
• Plastic: offers several advantages over other packaging materials in its sturdiness and low weight. Even though plastic can be recycled there is a lack of facilities in the UK. The current recycling rate for plastic in the UK is 5%, with the remainder either landfilled or incinerated.
• Mixed materials: packaging can sometimes have the benefits of being more resource and energy efficient than single material packaging, but combining materials makes recycling difficult. Recycling these materials is hindered by the lack of facilities and technology necessary to separate materials to avoid contamination. Mixed materials packaging can be reprocessed into other products such as floor coverings, shoe soles and car mats, incinerated to produce energy, or landfilled.
Plastics
Many plastics can be used for packaging. Examples are;
Polythene (high density) HDPE - a strong plastic used for buckets, bowls pipes etc...
PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) - a shatter proof plastic becoming very popular for drinks containers. It is shatter proof, light weight and 90% recyclable.
PVC - Polyvinyl Chloride - Used for soft drinks containers that are not pressurised.
Polythene (low density) LDPE - a softer plastic used for plastic bags, squeezy bottles for substances such as detergents. Also used for pouches containing products such as drinks and semi-solid foods. Very popular as containers of sports/energy drinks. These containers are flexible, shatter proof, and cheap to produce.
PET bottles
PET is used as a raw material for making packaging materials such as bottles and containers for packaging a wide range of food products and other consumer goods. Examples include soft drinks, alcoholic beverages, detergents, cosmetics, pharmaceutical products and edible oils. PET is one of the most common consumer plastics used.
Global statistics
Worldwide, approximately 4.53 million tons of PET were collected in 2007. This gave 3.64 million tons of flake. 2.6 million tons were used to produce fibre, 0.3 million tons to produce bottles, 0.37 million tons to produce APET sheet for thermoforming, 0.17 million tons to produce strapping tape and 0.12 million tons for miscellaneous applications. (Source: PCI)
Petcore, the European trade association that fosters the collection and recycling of PET, reported that in Europe alone, 1.36 million tonnes of PET bottles were collected in 2009 - more than 48.4% of all bottles. After exported bales were taken into account, 0.905 million tons of PET flake were produced. 0.366 million tons were used to produce fibres, 0.201 million tons to produce more bottles, 0.247 million tons to produce APET sheets, 0.066 million tons for strapping tape and 0.025 million tons for miscellaneous applications. (Source: PCI for Petcore)
Re-use of PET bottles
PET bottles are also recycled as-is (re-used) for various purposes, including for use in school projects, and for use in solar water disinfection in developing nations, in which empty PET bottles are filled with water and left in the sun to allow disinfection by ultraviolet radiation. PET is useful for this purpose because most other materials (including glass) that are transparent to visible light are opaque to ultraviolet radiation.
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