INNOVATION | PET RECYCLING
Right: Pellets produced by Cirrec, the recycling division of the Faerch Group located in Duiven, The Netherlands
grow its PET recycling operations in Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland. On the positive side, the company also announced a £70m investment to convert a disused industrial facility in Battlefield, UK, into a high-capacity sorting and recycling plant which will include the country’s first dedicated PET tray-to-tray recycling facility. The UK currently lacks infrastructure to recycle PET trays back into food- grade material at scale due to stringent contamina- tion and quality standards, and the company says it plans to use its experience in similar operations inter- nationally to fill this gap in the market. “The PET sector is expanding
through regulatory drivers and technological innovation, but is also confronting structural challenges tied to glo- balised scrap trade and feedstock traceability,” said Edward Kosior, CEO and Founder of consul- tancy Nextek. “Address- ing these issues will be critical not just for meeting recycled content mandates, but for ensuring the quality and safety of recycled material, particu- larly when it feeds back into food- contact and high-value applications.” He continued: “Recent research has shown that
recycled PET often contains trace contaminants such as benzene and other volatile organic compounds, sometimes introduced through contamination with incompatible plastics like PVC or through thermal degradation during recycling. Their presence underscores the challenges in ensuring rPET quality when feedstock origin and composition are uncontrolled. This quality uncer- tainty amplifies the argument for recycling closer to the point of collection and consumption. Local recycling systems have a lower carbon footprint and allow better control over input streams, tighter monitoring of contaminants, and traceability that global imports cannot easily provide. Coupled with blockchain-verified material histories and third- party certification schemes, near-home recycling supports stronger sustainability, quality assurance, and brand confidence.”
Pots, tubs and trays Cirrec, the recycling division of the Faerch Group located in Duiven, The Netherlands, is targeting non-bottle sources of PET waste. In 2024, multiple Tomra flake sorting units were installed, significant- ly advancing the plant’s capabilities and perfor-
20 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | April 2026
mance. The strategic investment was in response to several key market trends, including the growing challenge of sourcing high-quality feedstock in Europe, and the limitations of multi-layer materials in the recycling loop. The input material consists of pots, tubs, and trays, which often presents signifi- cant challenges compared to bottles such as variable contamination, including residual food, other plastics, and foreign materials. This makes achieving high purity levels exceptionally difficult, especially once the material is ground into flakes. To help achieve this, Cirrec integrat- ed multiple Tomra flake sorting machines, including Innosort Flake and Autosort Flake units. The former is designed for sorting flakes by polymer and colour, including transparent and opaque materials, while the latter is a higher-performance solution tailored for high-purity applications. This technology is crucial for
Cirrec’s multi-stage process, which involves pre-sorting, washing, drying, and then flake
sorting. Since installing the new units, Cirrec says it has seen a marked reduction in contami- nants in the final streams while a new line has doubled capacity to 60,000 tonnes/yr. The sorted flakes are used internally by Cirrec to produce pellets for new trays within the Faerch Group. “Cirrec is creating new feedstock while prevent- ing the downcycling of bottles into trays which is exactly the approach needed to truly future proof our industry,” said Riccardo Succi, Tomra’s Segment Manager Plastic – Europe. “These distinct recycling streams must be maintained to ensure that bottles remain in their dedicated loop. This pioneering project is setting a new industry standard, chang- ing how PET food trays are recycled, and speeding up the move towards a fully circular economy for food packaging. It’s also a strong example of how cutting-edge technology can support plant owners in discovering new business opportunities.”
Food and non-food Last year, Swiss packaging manufacturer Bachmann Group and partners Sesotec, Starlinger Viscotec, Krones, and PET-Man, launched the PAC2PAC pilot project with the goal of creating an optimal recycling loop for PET packaging. In the first instance, each company contributed its expertise
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
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