NAPCOR concerned over PLA contamination of PET stream

The National Association of PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) has added to the recent concerns raised by PET recycling organizations by stating that it too is worried about the contamination of the PET recycling stream by Polylactic Acid (PLA).'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 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,' said Mike Schedler, technical director of NAPCOR, in a statement issued by the Sonoma, Calif., association. 'It just isn't a viable solution from anyone's point of view.'This issue recently came to the foreground of discussions in plastics recycling when bioplastics manufacturer Natureworks LLC released results of a test which concluded that NIR technology could separate 93% of PLA from a PET recycling stream. The test results were immediately challenged by the Association of Post Consumer Plastics Recyclers in Washington.'APR has been consistent in its position on PLA,' said APR Executive Director Steve Alexander. 'PLA needs to be separated from PET before the reclamation process starts. Period. PLA at levels of more than one-tenth of one percent in a PET recycling stream is not acceptable. Anything beyond that amount has been shown to contaminate the PET recycling stream.'If PLA bottles enter the PET recycling stream, it would 'transfer significant system costs and logistics burdens to the PET recyclers, impacting the viability and continued sustainability of their businesses,' said NAPCOR chairman Tom Busard.