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MetaPure – recycling solutions by Krones

Buy it, drink it – and that's it? No way! From a consumer's view, the lifespan of a PET bottle may seem to be quite short. The bottles know it better. They are made of material which is highly suitable for recycling. This feature can be utilised again and again.

So it is all the more surprising that still billions of PET bottles per year are not recycled – thereby wasting a huge source of raw materials. But it's worth for more than one reasons to get into the recycling business: No matter if you operate a filling line, supply packaging to beverage filling companies or produce other plastic products – a recycling system

will make you independent of material procurement,
save you a lot of costs and
provide you with a solid argument of high publicity effect regarding sustainability and ecological efficiency.

Beverage containers made from rPET

Material properties, processability, food grade quality: you can find all kinds of interesting facts about the use of recycled PET in our free white paper.

The facts:
everything you need to know about rPET

Plastics are not all the same

But PET is only one of many plastic materials. Depending on their physical properties, plastic materials change their hardness, elasticity or temperature and heat resistance - and thereby its fields of application. Colourless PET, for instance, is mainly used for producing beverage bottles. The robust polyolefins (PO), however, are mainly used for the production of more stable containers, toys, pipes and household articles. Precisely because of their widespread use, it is essential that the end products are returned into the recycling cycle after use and that the plastic materials are reprocessed.

MetaPure W and S

Recycling solutions for PET

Learn more

Krones has already completed the life cycle of a PET bottle as early as in 2009 with the MetaPure technology. The portfolio includes separate modules for washing and decontamination.

Recycling of PET containers into flakes or pellet
- MetaPure W-PET washing module: Pre-treatment zone, caustic washer and hot post-washer
- The MetaPure S decontamination module: Decontamination module and solid state post-condensation (SSP) for increasing the intrinsic viscosity (IV value can be set individually)
Energy-saving, direct further processing to preforms, films or pellets (optional)
Production of different material qualities – up to food-grade PET standard according to FDA, EFSA and other certificates
Available as a complete line or in the form of individual machines

MetaPure W-PO

Recycling solutions for PO

Learn more

If one compares the recycling of containers made of PO and those made of PET, PO containers present numerous challenges: On the one hand, they are lighter than water which calls for a different procedural approach. On the other hand, the containers can take on the odour of the products they contain. Krones approaches all of these issues with a recycling technology which has been modified to precisely suit the processing of polyolefins.

Recycling of PO containers into flakes
- MetaPure W-PO washing module: Intensive pre-washer and hot post-washer
Thanks to our cooperation with partners: Krones can also supply complete solutions with systems for the subsequent further processing of the PO flakes

Our complete-system expertise: Turnkey partner for complete recycling factories

Next to the washing or decontamination modules, Krones also offers solutions for complete recycling systems with the main components being optimally matched to each other. The company thereby benefits from its own recycling expertise as well as from in-house plant engineering and project management which permit overall responsibility with only few interfaces in the first place. For components, such as front end or the utilities which are not included in the Krones portfolio, Krones banks on years of cooperation with experienced manufacturers.

Everything you need for PET: the closed plastics cycle under one roof

Can plastic packages be sustainable? Yes, they can, if the process for producing them is resource-economical and if they are kept in a closed cycle. You can achieve both of this with technology from Krones and the services it provides. Starting with material-saving packaging design, then low-energy container production right through to recovery of used plastics: Krones offers PET bottles and other packages a chance for a sustainable, eco-compatible life-cycle – not only once, mind you, but again and again.

Preforms

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Preforms

In the preform production process, every tenth of a second in cycle time and every tenth of a gram in weight count. And there are plenty of potentials for meaningful savings. To exploit them, two things are necessary: firstly comprehensive knowledge of the properties and the behaviour exhibited by the various preform materials, and secondly a profound insight into the production processes involved – both into preform injection-moulding and into the salient aspects governing subsequent container stretch blow-moulding. You will find both of these in the Krones Group.

MHT AG, a company that has specialised in making PET tools for producing preforms, has been part of the Krones family since 2018. Its performatively excellent high-tech injection-moulding tools

image all preform designs and threads in common use;
are suitable for almost all machine platforms known on the market;
are based on an innovative hot-runner technology developed in-house.

MHT Mold & Hotrunner Technology AG

Individual solutions and complete factories

Would you like to produce preforms and caps made of recycled or new material? A company of the Krones Group will assist you here as well: the Integrated Plastics Systems AG – briefly IPS. Among others, the following services are offered:

From engineering of systems for preform and cap production all the way to turnkey factories
Sustainable saving of material and energy consumption
Customised container design

Integrated Plastics Systems AG

Containers

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Containers

The ideal package offers persuasively attractive pluses in all situations: in the production process and at the point of sale, during transport and finally during recovery as well. Since Krones has signed up to providing holistically conceived solutions, development work on both bottle design and machine technology goes hand in hand. It is only when both these aspects supplement each other to perfection that the best solutions are arrived at – for producers, consumers and the natural environment alike.

The packaging designers from Krones

advise clients on design, material, product requirements and technical implementation of packages;
optimise existing designs in terms of weight, haptics and line efficiency;
possess in-depth expertise in the ecological and economic requirements involved, such as material selection, recyclability or weight optimisation.

A whole bandwidth of different technical solutions can be found in the Krones portfolio for the journey from the preform to the ready-for-sale product. And the innovation process embraced by Krones sees to it that these solutions grow in line with more stringent market requirements and also provide answers to the challenges of tomorrow. One element of crucial importance in this context is the enviro sustainability programme, because it makes sure that any newly developed products, and any upgrades, too, are focused on eco-efficiency and environmental compatibility right from the start.

Product information Bottle Design

Sustainability Programme enviro

Contiform 3 Pro: a stretch blow-moulder series that

has been conceived for outstanding energy- and media-efficiency;
covers a wide output spectrum;
reliably masters a most varied range of process types – on request in one and the same machine;
also produces PET bottles made 100 per cent of recyclate.

Product information Contiform 3 Pro

Contiform 3 Speed: a high-speed stretch blow-moulder that

achieves a station output of up to 2,750 containers an hour;
produces containers for still water, CSDs, and sensitive products;
saves another max. 15 per cent in energy and compressed-air consumption compared to the Contiform 3 Pro.

Product information Contiform 3 Speed

Contipure AseptBloc: aseptic filling systems that

also produce and fill lightweight containers to optimum standards of quality;
boast an uninterrupted running time of up to 186 hours;
are extremely painstaking in economising on energy consumption;
need just one single sterilisation medium – and use this with particular efficiency.

Product information Contipure AseptBloc

Product information Contipure Bloc P

Tethered caps: Be prepared now for the EU Directive 2019/204

It will be mandatory in the EU from 2024 for non-returnable PET bottles: Tethered caps - i.e. caps that remain firmly attached to the bottle even after opening. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to switch to the new cap type. That's why we have prepared our capping technology for the new task - and also summarised all the important information about tethered caps for you in a whitepaper: From the legal situation regarding possible cap variants through to their technical feasibility in the production line.

Downloading the whitepaper free of charge

Secondary packaging

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Secondary packaging

When it comes to reducing the use of materials, we mostly think of the beverages containers first. But if we take a closer look, we can see that there is also plenty of savings potential with secondary packagings.

Doing completely without plastics

It is also possible without film: LitePac Top is an innovative secondary packaging from our own development. Instead of shrink film, it keeps cans and PET containers in shape with an environmentally friendly cardboard clip - and thus meets the pulse of the times in terms of sustainability and resource conservation.

Packaging your containers without film

The difference to many other alternative packaging types: LitePac Top can already be produced on an industrial scale today - and is thus ready for immediate use on the market. This is because the Krones Varioline can handle the most diverse types of secondary and tertiary packaging, including LitePac Top.

Discover the many possibilities offered by the Krones Varioline

Consuming less plastic

You don't always need a new type of packaging: There's also still plenty of material to be saved in existing pack types.

Optimising the machines

The Variopac Pro packaging machine offers several options for noticeably reducing shrink-film consumption - by upgrading to reduce:

the film thickness by up to 25 μm.
the lateral film projection.
the film residue on the film reel.

Optimising the packaging material

A service for all those who use shrink films optimally: In a film analysis, we examine and evaluate the films you have selected based on all of the relevant parameters. The results will be sent to you in a conclusive report with clear evaluation graphics – which provides you with an ideal and, above all, objective basis for making decisions during film selection. Whether material thickness, overlap or overhangs: even when it comes to recycling films, we will gladly accompany you to the limits of what is technically feasible. Benefits to you: More sustainability with lower costs!

Try it out right away: use the free savings calculator and send a non-binding enquiry

Used PET bottles

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Used PET bottles

In a recently announced co-operation agreement, Krones and Stadler Anlagenbau GmbH are lighting the touchpaper for a strong circular economy. The shared aim is to make the benefits of plastic recycling a reality that is as achievable and profitable as possible for customers all over the world. Firstly, by offering their existing, tried-and-tested solutions for sorting and recycling technology as turnkey complete factories from a single source. And secondly by collaborating on the development of new solutions, processes and technologies to do with the sorting and treatment of waste.

Stadler Anlagenbau GmbH

is one of the market leaders in the sorting systems technology
has about 450 employees
has sold already more than 350 turnkey lines and 2,000 single components worldwide
develops and manufactures technology for sorting all kind of different materials – this includes plastic waste, paper, cartons, household waste and commercial waste.

Stadler Anlagenbau GmbH

Recyclate

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Recyclate

Buy, drink – and that’s it? Not by a long way! From a consumer’s viewpoint, the lifespan of a PET bottle may seem short. But the bottles themselves know better. After all, they are made of a material with outstanding recycling properties. And that talent can be utilised again and again.

So it is all the more surprising that billions of PET bottles per year are still not being re-used – meaning a gigantic raw-material source is simply lying fallow. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates the value of plastic waste unused today at 80 to 120 billion dollars a year. An enormous potential just waiting to be tapped. And that’s not all: recycling plants turn waste into new products – and can thus make a substantial contribution towards reducing the global littering problem.

The MetaPure recycling systems

… recycle PET containers
- into flakes (on request with direct downstream processing into new products).
- in different material qualities.
- right up to food-grade PET in line with FDA, EFSA and other certificates.
… recycle containers made of polyolefins (PO)
- into flakes.
- in the upcycling approach for high-quality re-use.
… are available as individual machines – or in the shape of a complete single-sourced recycling plant.

Product information MetaPure