Made from recycled material and designed for recycling: Starlinger viscotec, a division of the Austrian machinery supplier Starlinger & Co GmbH, has developed a new material to make packaging for dairy and hot-fill products fully recyclable. rPET100 combines the environmental advantages of recycled PET with easy material processability and opens opportunities for new circular packaging solutions.
Food packaging for applications like dairy, hot drinks, instant soups, and ready-meals must withstand higher temperatures during the production process and consumption. Additionally, dairy products require packaging with optimal light and gas barrier for longer shelf life. The new rPET100 sheet combines these benefits and adds new ones: it is heat resistant, made from monomaterial, and its white colour protects the product from UV light. Once used, the packaging can be 100% recycled because it contains no other polymer additives.
Trays, cups, and food containers made from rPET100 are the fully recyclable alternative to singleuse cups made from materials like polypropylene (PP) or polystyrene (PS). Post-consumer recycled PET fulfils all requirements of the European Food Safety Agency (efsa) when it has been supercleaned with Starlinger viscotec technology. PET/rPET has outstanding material properties that can be restored in the recycling process, which makes PET a truly circular packaging material.
With the introduction of the new rPET100 material, Starlinger viscotec puts the "cradle to cradle" principles for a circular economy into action. By using recycled PET for packaging, a lot of CO2 emissions are avoided. Up to 100% recycling content is possible for rPET100, giving brand owners and converters an unparalleled opportunity to produce truly sustainable packaging solutions. rPET100 has an unbeatable CO2 balance because recycled PET has a considerably smaller CO2 footprint, plus the new material can be fully recycled.
rPET sheet lines by Starlinger viscotec are designed for outstanding sheet quality at high throughput rates. Converters who run Starlinger viscotec equipment can manufacture rPET100 sheet without making changes to the set-up of their installation. Packaging manufacturers appreciate the material properties of the rPET100 sheet, which achieves high output with only minor adjustments to the thermoforming set-up.
