The technical committee of the European PET Bottle Platform (EPBP; www.epbp.org) has given its temporary endorsement to full-body sleeves used on PET bottles for household and personal care products with the aim of boosting recyclability. The endorsement is for a period of three years, during which the organisation will assess the packaging industry’s commitment to the initiative and measure consumer’s engagement in removing the sleeves.

The ODR [opaque and difficult-to-recycle] working group at EPBP member Petcore Europe (Brussels / Belgium; https://petcore-europe.org) has been working to increase the recyclability of sleeved PET bottles. Using sleeves can lead to errors in identifying PET bottles by near infrared (NIR) and optical detectors in sorting plants, leading to a reduction in the amount of plastics waste recovered. In addition, when sleeves pass through the pre-wash, they lead to lower quality recycled PET. Gian De Belder, chairman of Petcore Europe’s ODR working group, described the endorsement as a big step forward and a “great example of a cross-value chain approach.”

The endorsement is subject to several conditions. The industry has to develop a standardised concept for the double perforations, which must be designed to be easily identified and removed. The PET bottles should carry a standardised message asking consumers to remove the sleeve before placing in collection bins. They must also be compliant with EPBP guidelines for transparent clear/light blue bottles and the sleeve should also allow recognition of the bottle by polymer.

The design, both in terms of materials and inks, should allow the sleeves to float in hot water and separate from the PET flakes in a sink/float separation step. The printed sleeves must also not bleed inks into the washing water. Finally, the packaging industry is to support consumer cooperation with communication campaigns and provide data on the effectiveness of consumer engagement.

The EPBP’s technical committee said it accepts that perforation is not applicable to bottles that are required to keep the label on after disposal, such as those belonging to deposit systems or those containing regulated products. Additionally, it concedes that the concept is unlikely to be suitable for bottles containing products that are expected to be consumed “on-the-go”, as the sleeve’s removal could be perceived as a risk of plastic spreading in the environment if it is not disposed of correctly.

In the coming weeks, the ODR working group is planning to meet with Brussels-based industry organisations, the International Association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products (AISE; www.aise.eu) and Cosmetics Europe (www.cosmeticseurope.eu). The other members of EPBP, also located in Brussels, include the European Association of Plastics Recycling and Recovery Organisations (EPRO; www.epro-plasticsrecycling.org), European Plastics Recyclers (PRE; www.plasticsrecyclers.eu), the Union of European Beverages Association (Unesda; www.unesda.eu) and the European Federation of Bottled Water (EFBW; www.efbw.org).