Supply Chain Players Tap PET Thermoforms for More Recycled ContentSupply Chain Players Tap PET Thermoforms for More Recycled Content

Recycled PET demand is high, but the supply—mostly reliant on recovered PET bottles—falls short, prompting interest in adding thermoforms like clamshells to the mix. However, challenges such as sorting difficulties, reclaimers' process limitations, and material design issues complicate widespread adoption, though advances in AI sorting and industry collaboration offer hope for improved recovery.

Arlene Karidis, Freelance writer

February 5, 2025

5 Min Read
PET
Philip Scalia / Alamy Stock Photo

Reclaimers and brands are hungry for recycled PET, but today’s stream isn’t enough to satisfy their appetite. Recovered PET bottles alone are left to carry most of the weight, unable to meet demand. Adding PET thermoforms to the mix (like clamshells and trays for food packaging) could give the supply side an energizing shot in the arm, believe some industry players.

But it’s easier said than done. Almost every materials recovery facility (MRF) that bales thermoform combines it with PET bottles. That’s the only way they can make it worthwhile given the limited quantities that come their way. 

But mixed bales are a headache for the bottle reclaimers who process them, at least if they are more than 10 percent thermoform. These polymers can disrupt their lines and process. Most reclaimers say they just pull them out and landfill them.  That’s what Rumpke Waste & Recycling hears.

Years back, the Ohio-based company said no to PET thermoforms. But that didn’t stop some of this material from flowing into the stream.

So, Jeff Snyder, Rumpke’s senior vice president of recycling and sustainability, decided to do a 180. In November 2024, the company’s Columbus, Ohio plant became among the nation’s first to separate the two packaging types. Thermoforms are bailed with colored PET and cups and sold to Eastman Chemical in Kingsport, Tennessee.  

Related:Eight Copolyester Resins from Eastman Receive RecyClass Approval

“For us to be able to adopt this practice, two things had to happen,” says Snyder.

“First, we had to be able to efficiently sort the thermoforms. Then, we needed to have an end user that could take them and make something new out of them.”

Eastman breaks the plastic down using a process called methanolysis and makes a recycled pellet for Procter & Gamble, who puts it back into colored PET.

For the sorting piece, Rumpke turned to artificial intelligence. A camera identifies objects’ shape, size, and color; near-infrared light detects chemical composition to further inform sorting. Ultimately the smart system signals an air knife to blow either the thermoform or bottle off the belt.

The new plant only takes clamshells—20 tons of them a week. Snyder says he has infrastructure to do a little more than double that.

“Targeting clamshells made the most sense because that is what I was seeing in our stream already. Think about all the packaging for berries, salads, egg cartons, and those types of things.

“Accepting this packaging type also made it easy for the public to understand what to put in their bins,” says Snyder.

To make sure of that, rather than list polymer numbers, Rumpke includes pictures on its list of accepted items, along with simple descriptions.

Related:New Jersey Aims to Ban Single-Use Plastic Utensils

Reclaimers’ challenges are an ongoing conversation.

There are issues around labels, the packaging’s low molecular weight, and limited strength.  All three of these factors tie in to each other.  Curt Cozart, COO of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) explains:

“Thermoforms tend to become brittle and create fines, which get lost in high-temperature recycling processes.  But it’s not possible to use less heat because many label adhesives are not designed for recycling, and the higher temperatures result in better quality.”    

It’s not a good combination—a temperature-sensitive resin plus label adhesives that must be removed with high heat. And it’s forcing recyclers to choose between yield loss and quality, Cozart says.

Blister packs present barriers too. Flat in shape, they resemble 2-D fiber packaging, so they are easily missorted. And the foil layer can trip metal detectors.

APR has suggestions for overcoming some of the issues, laid out in this document.  

Scott Carter, vice president of Innovation for thermoforming business Tek Pak says his company’s customers now think about upstream design.  They are using recycle-friendly inks and labels and working on lidding that can be peeled from packaging without leaving residue.  

Related:Light House Launches First-of-its-Kind Circular Solutions Program to Tackle Construction Plastic Waste in B.C.

Carter says using PET, PP, and HDPE is also key to recyclability. Finally, barrier or sealant layers need to be a composition that is compatible with processing equipment.  

Some advances are taking shape at the equipment vendor level, says Katy Ricchi, a consulting engineer at RRS.

“That would be the people who make the optical sorters. All of the major companies sell some type of AI tool. And sortation capabilities have significantly improved with the use of these tools,” she says.

While the ultimate goal would be to sort down to bottle-only or thermoform-only, Ricchi believes mixed bales have their place. Which one is best will depend on the region, the material availability, and the reclaimer process.

RRS recently released a thermoform recycling study evaluating how increasing thermoform in curbside bales impacted recyclability. The team also worked with a third-party lab to determine if output was suitable for typical PET end markets.   

Among key findings:

  • PET flakes produced from mixed thermoform and bottle bales met the quality and performance standards for several end markets.

  • The greatest barrier to increasing PET thermoform recovery is likely yield loss at reclaimer facilities, whose systems are not designed to manage non-bottle materials.

  • This system design-related issue could be resolved by segregating thermoforms on lines that are built to manage PET thermoforms’ unique characteristics. Or by adjusting PET bottle reclamation lines to better manage non-bottle PET.

The Recycling Partnership has gotten behind this work, awarding $6.5 million in grants to expand PET recycling, mostly thermoform recovery. Some of it is funneled into education. The consensus in the recycling world is that teaching residents what goes in the bin and what doesn’t is step one. But outreach can’t stop there if the goal is to maximize system investments.

“With 60 percent of consumers unsure about what and how to recycle, outreach must go beyond instructions—it should build confidence, motivate action, and make people feel supported in their efforts,” says Adam Gendell, The Recycling Partnership’s director of system optimization.

On the MRF side over in Ohio, Snyder is thinking about what might be down the road.  He believes AI sorting power could someday be the impetus to look into recovering more than clamshells. Even more than thermoforms in general.

“AI doesn't care what color a package is; it picks up on all of them. So, sorting black could be the future. Or it could be HDPE tubes— toothpaste, sunscreen … or smaller containers.

“Object recognition opens up a whole new world for MRFs and allows us to go deeper into the stream than ever before.”

About the Author

Arlene Karidis

Freelance writer, Waste360

Arlene Karidis has 30 years’ cumulative experience reporting on health and environmental topics for B2B and consumer publications of a global, national and/or regional reach, including Waste360, Washington Post, The Atlantic, Huffington Post, Baltimore Sun and lifestyle and parenting magazines. In between her assignments, Arlene does yoga, Pilates, takes long walks, and works her body in other ways that won’t bang up her somewhat challenged knees; drinks wine;  hangs with her family and other good friends and on really slow weekends, entertains herself watching her cat get happy on catnip and play with new toys.

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