NEWS
As well as expanding rPET, KP has added pharmaceutical film capacity in Virginia
EU risks missing
targets The European Court of Auditors has warned: “There is a significant risk that the EU will not meet its plastic packaging recycling targets for 2025 and 2030.” The ECA, which acts as
KP expands rPET capacity
Klöckner Pentaplast is to expand extrusion capacity of post-consumer recycled PET in North America. The expansion, of 17,500 tonnes/year, will “significant- ly increase” its capacity for thermoformed recyclable protein trays in North America, says KP. The multimillion-dollar capacity expansion will be spread across the eight North American locations that are best situated to
serve its sustainable consumer and protein packaging customer base, it said. The expansion, which includes special “super- cleaning technology”, supports customer demand for a higher percentage of post-consumer recycled (PCR) content in consumer and health packaging. “As major brands announce initiatives that includes post-consumer and
recyclable packaging, we will be positioned to service those market needs for the foreseeable future,” said Scott Tracey, CEO of KP. In March this year, KP announced a 30% capacity expansion at its Cotia, Brazil location, and in June broke ground at its central Virginia location – which increased pharmaceutical films capacity by 6,000 tonnes/ year. �
www.kpfilms.com
the EU’s independent external auditor, said targets set in 2018 could help boost recycling capacity, but “the scale of the challenge facing the Member States should not be underestimated”. It suggests new
recycling reporting rules and a tightening of plastic waste export rules would reduce the EU’s recycling rate. The EU’s Plastics Strategy aims to increase the plastic packaging recycling rate to 50% by 2025 and 55% by 2030. �
www.eca.europa.eu
Positive report on BFR legacy additives
Brominated flame retardants are not hindering the recycling of WEEE plastics, according to a new study from consultants Sofies Group for the International Bromine Council (BSEF). Legacy additives such as BFRs in older electrical and electronic products have been subject to increased regulation in the EU (see Plastics Recycling World March-April 2019). BSEF said restrictions have been
operating for years with BFRs (since 2003 for Octa-BDE and since 2008 for Deca-BDE) and they “only represent a small and rapidly declining fraction of all BFRs found in WEEE plastic streams”. “The presence of BFRs in WEEE plastics does not reduce recycling yields more
8 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | November/December 2020
than other FRs as FR-containing plastics, as well as plastics containing other additives in significant loads (e.g. fillers), are sorted out during the conventional density-based recycling process.” The European Electronics Recyclers Association welcomed the report and
said its findings confirm what the actual recycling practice experiences are in the EU. “The WEEE recycling industry has learned perfectly well how to deal with brominated flame retardants,” it said. However, EERA cautioned that the
progress achieved to date will not be helped by further reducing thresholds for restricted BFRs. “The WEEE Directive requires us to separate all BFRs whether restricted or not. We rely on screening the element bromine to achieve this cost-effectively. However, we are now screening out more useful plastics with non-restricted BFRs than legacy BFRs.” �
www.bsef.com �
https://sofiesgroup.com �
www.eera-recyclers.com
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
IMAGE: BSEF
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