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SONOMA, CA — The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) is urging manufacturers of PET resin and products to avoid using additives that make plastic degradable.
PET is widely used in making plastic bottles, containers and other packaging. It is also widely recycled, identifiable by the resin code 1.
As companies investigate more sustainable packaging, some have started using plant-based plastics in place of PET or started using additives that make the PET degradable based on certain conditions.
NAPCOR, the trade organization for the PET packaging industry, is asking companies to stop using additives until more information is gathered on what effect additive-laden plastic could have on recycling streams if that plastic ends up being put in recycling systems instead of being left to degrade.
NAPCOR also wants to see documentation related to degradability claims, more information on what effect degradable additives could have on products made out of recycled PET, and information on what impact the additives have on product lifespan.
“Without the testing and data necessary to understand the potential impacts of degradable additives in PET, it's not an overstatement to say that they could potentially put the whole PET recycling system at risk,” said NAPCOR Executive Director Dennis Sabourin. “We don't yet understand the impacts that these additives could have on the quality of the PET recycling stream, let alone the impacts on the safety and functionality over time of next-use PET products like recycled-content PET packaging, carpeting, or strapping.”
NAPCOR is also questioning the use of degradable plastics because when plastic is left to degrade instead of being recycled or remanufactured, the inherent energy in the packaging is lost, and the plastic industry also loses material that could have recycled into new packaging.
In 2007, the U.S. recycled 1.4 billion pounds of postconsumer PET packaging, and some companies have started using bottles and packaging made entirely out of recycled plastic.
Plastic bottles - CC license by Shazari
PET recycling
Are you kidding me? It is unfortunate that buyers of PET are threatening recycling efforts. As I recall, recycling was set up to handle paper and the like. When PET came along with its negative environmental impacts, markets were created to bring value to it. I remember just recently, recyclers having to sit on warehouses of PET because the market fell out in China. You mention the 1.4 billion pounds of recycled PET in 2007. Since that only includes about 23% (see Recycling Container Institute website), need we ask where the other 6.5 billion pounds of PET went? Take a look in our filled landfills, in our oceans and along our roadways. We need the studies on the negative impacts of PET getting into compostable products like PLA bottles (made from a renewable source, and not foreign oil) To recycle PET bottles, you can only use about 20%, so you are still adding 80% petroleum to a plastic that, odds are will not be recovered but just keep poisoning our environment. There is a market for PET buyers to get into the PLA market...and the current price per pound is more than double that of PET. Yup, looks like NAPCOR just has to do some work to make a living, just like the rest of us. Great article, I was in a bit of a chuckle until I realized how many people would take what you said without further consideration, thats a shame. Barry K.