As the drive to ensure PET bottles are recycled back into PET bottles accelerates – narrowing the opportunity for recycling them into textile fibres – Tokyo-headquartered Pet Refine Technology, part of the Jeplan Group, has announced that Helix is the new brand name for its recycled PET resin.

The company reports that the Japan Soft Drink Association has announced a declaration to increase bottle-to-bottle recycling to up to 50% of PET bottles sold by 2030, while Europe is currently deliberating regulations that will require plastic packaging to incorporate recycled content in two phases – a minimum of 30% from 2030, and a minimum of 50% from 2040.

Generally ,used PET bottles contain a large amount of impurities, making it difficult to fully recycle them. At its plant in Kawasaki, Pet Refine Technology employs a proprietary process to break the bottles down at the molecular level and remove impurities like colouring and metals. Its recycled PET resin subseqently has the quality equivalent to that of virgin resin.

Helix PET resin has already been widely adopted in PET bottles and cosmetic packaging by Japanese companies including Asahi Soft Drinks, Attenir, Kao Corporation, Kirin Brewery and Shiseido.

Jeplan Group has established extensive bottle collection programmes across Japan and is also now operating a second PET chemical recycling plant in Hibikinada, Kitakyushu for polyester textile fibre-to-fibre recycling

It is now promoting a technology licensing model for its chemical recycling processes.

www.helix.pet

www.jeplan.co.jp