Post-consumer recycled PET: COSSMA

The call for recycled plastic in the packaging of consumer goods is getting louder - also in the cosmetics industry. But not every material is suitable for reuse. Peter Barlog shows what is possible with PET (polyethylene terephthalate).

The packaging of our consumer goods in general and in the cosmetics industry in particular fulfils many important functions: They ensure the hygiene and safety of the products, protect them from external influences, provide space for important consumer information and play an important role in the purchase decision with the help of an attractive packaging design. But packaging, and in particular plastic packaging, also stands for a linear economic model: produce cheaply, use briefly and then dispose of. The huge success of plastic packaging leads to an equally huge stream of waste and pollution, which has attracted the attention of the public as well as governments and businesses around the world with worries about the future.

Circular economy – closing the plastics loop. Photo: Barlog Plastics

Economic cycles

Systemic change that addresses the root causes is needed: a transition to a circular economy. The consumption of resources and impact on the environment can be reduced if materials remain in economic cycles for as long as possible. To achieve this transition to a circular economy there is still a long way to go and a great deal of joint effort is required from many players along the entire value chain. But time is short and quick wins are needed to make decisive progress toward achieving the ambitious goals.

So far, there are still very few successfully functioning and effective plastic cycles. One of them is the recycling of PET beverage bottles. Across Europe, about two out of three PET Bottles are already recycled today¹, and in Germany the figure is over 93%².

Advantages of PET

PET has very advantageous properties for recycling: its chemical structure makes it possible to add solid state polymerisation to mechanical recycling, thus producing food-grade recycled materials of controlled quality and with very low levels of volatiles. These materials can be used again for the production of PET beverage bottles or for other packaging requiring high purity and controlled quality of the material, e.g., packaging for cosmetics such as lipstick, creams or liquids. Depending on the manufacturing process of the finished article, postconsumer recycled PET (PCR R-PET) enables savings of 60 to 79%1 CO2 emissions compared to virgin PET.

Practical example

One example for a company that offers a range of high-quality recycled plastics is Barlog Plastics with its “Keballoy Eco R-PET” that is part of its sustainability initiative since 2019. This is made from >99% postconsumer recycled PET beverage bottles in an efsa-certified (European Food Safety Authority) manufacturing process. The materials are food grade according to EC directive 10/2011, comply to the European cosmetic regulation EC 1223/2009 and are supplied in very tight specifications comparable to virgin PET. The products are particularly suitable for the injection moulding of amorphous, transparent components with wall thicknesses of up to two millimetres. The diverse properties of PET enable functional integration in recycling-friendly mono-material assemblies.

Just the beginning

Using post-consumer recycled PET is a good start to making products more sustainable, but it takes much more to achieve a true circular economy. Barlog wants to support its customers in designing their products for recyclability and act as their sparring partner in developing concepts for recycling their products. In addition to the range of materials, there is a comprehensive service portfolio in many places to support the development of sustainable plastic products: from material selection to 3D printing of initial draft samples to material and recycling-specific design, FEA structure and process simulation, prototype and small series production using injection moulding.