Cutting down on plastics waste

In an article published on Business Reporter, Gianfranco Zoppas, President, Zoppas Industries, explains why the Circular Economy is central to a waste free world and how a plastic bottle made up of recycled PET can contribute to that vision.

The European Union is cracking down on plastics waste, as it pushes forward its plans for the Circular Economy. It is limiting the use of single-use plastics and setting tough targets for use of recycled materials.

A ground-breaking technology for the production of PET bottles entirely out of post-consumer waste has been developed: rPET. This fully integrates two processes that are normally kept separate: the creation of process-ready material from prewashed flakes coming from used bottles; and the production of new bottles (or at least the preforms that are later blown into bottles) from the flakes.

rPET is in itself an important contribution to the Circular Economy. But this process integration brings additional important advantages in terms of sustainability, since it is much more energy-efficient than traditional methods.

“This is a solution that represents the perfect response to the requirements of the new Circular Economy,” says Gianfranco Zoppas, President of SIPA. “Waste reprocessing is rendered sustainable and economic while producing new products of the highest quality.”