July 27th, 2009 · No Comments

From Green Right Now Reports

The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), which represents those who recycle plastic soda and food bottles has fired a criticism at the alternative corn-derivative plastic known as PLA, saying it cannot be successfully recycled with PET containers at this time.

PET containers — water, oil, shampoo and drink bottles — are commonly recycled into polyester fabric, athletic wear and upholstery material. Their successful conversion requires a clean “waste stream” that is not contaminated with other types of plastics that may not meld well with PET, NAPCOR says.

NAPCOR’s current peeve with PLA (polylactide) is in response to claims by some PLA promoters that households and businesses can toss this this new plastic into their recycle bins along with the usual outgoing stream of conventional plastics, such as PET, and it will be sorted and used by recyclers.

“NAPCOR has spent over 20 years helping to build a successful domestic PET recycling infrastructure and this solution not only jeopardizes the PET system, but is not an effective solution for PLA,” said Tom Busard, NAPCOR Chairman, in a statement.

“We don’t doubt that PLA can be recycled,” Busard said, “but there are unquestionably some big issues yet to overcome. The current reality is that these issues (mixing PET and PLA) transfer significant system costs and logistics burdens to the PET recyclers, impacting the viability and continued sustainability of their businesses.”

The recently developed PLA, made from corn starch, looks and performs like regular plastic but unlike petroleum-derived PET, it is compostable and biodegradable. In the right conditions, it can degrade within two months. Developed in the 1990s, it was not as strong as regular plastic initially, but recent improvements have made this renewable, non-oil dependent product capable of containing liquids over a period of time.

In the competition between plastics, PLA can argue that it is sustainable and breaks down. However it cannot claim a proprietary position within the recycling hierarchy, as PET can. PET has developed a supply chain over decades and today supplies a number of end users, providing the raw material for a host of recycled products, such as tape, carpet, t-shirts and fleecewear.

PET plastic recyclers see PLA as getting in the way of this business, because when customers use more PLA and toss it into recycling bins it can clog up the reclamation of PET plastic. The mix can disrupt the reformulation of PET and degrade the quality of the second-cycle production. NAPCOR warns that such contamination could even result in the waste of more plastic, in which ruined batches of plastic would have to be sent to landfills.

Mike Schedler, NAPCOR’s technical director explained in NAPCOR’s press release: “The entire premise that you can simply add PLA containers into the PET recycling stream, successfully sort them out, and eventually find markets for the material is like advocating that mixed ceramic materials can be thrown right in with the recyclable glass stream to be sorted out, and that eventually there will be enough of this mixed material that someone will want to buy it.”

PLA, like other non-PET plastics, such as PVC, must be sorted out, costing the recyclers additional money in an already depressed market, he said.

The NAPCOR report noted that automated sorters are being tested and becoming available, but the upgrade is costly for recyclers, who are not well positioned in this economy to improve their plants.

PLA plastic, however, has been making the case that it can do everything PET can, including being recycled into other products, such as fibers to make clothing. PLA plastic developer and manufacturer, Nature Works LLC also is experimenting with sorting processes that will make it easier to pull PLA out of the recycling stream.