Best Practices in PET Recycling

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Curbside Recycling Collection -

Compaction vs. Loose Collection Systems

Issue: Some curbside recycling collection programs use compaction vehicles to collect designated recyclables. While this will yield greater amounts of material on a collection route than collecting materials loose and placing them in non-compaction vehicles, there is a greater possibility of introducing contaminants to the PET recycling process.

Best Practice: Collecting recyclables in compaction vehicles -- like the trucks used to collect household trash -- is the most efficient way to collect and transport recyclables. However, many curbside collection programs request their residents to commingle recyclable glass, metal and plastic containers together. When commingled containers are compacted, there is a greater tendency for glass breakage. When this happens, small pieces of glass can get trapped inside PET bottles and containers. This trapped glass can cause serious damage to processing equipment throughout the PET recycling process. Therefore, the best practice for curbside collection of PET plastics is to collect PET plastic containers commingled with other recyclable containers except glass in compaction vehicles.

Glass containers can be collected in the same vehicles as PET plastics and other commingled recyclables as long as they are placed in a different collection compartment when collection workers sort materials at the curb. Glass containers can be collected through a separate companion program just for glass when recyclable materials are collected in an automated fashion where no curbside sorting takes place.

Curbside collection programs that have used compaction vehicles and excluded glass from their collection program report the best collection efficiencies and economics. Glass is such a contaminant at subsequent stages in the PET recycling process, that overall recycling economics are enhanced when glass and plastics containers are not mixed together when compaction collection vehicles are used. Many programs around the country have successfully done this by providing convenient drop-off locations for glass containers, while other recyclable materials are collected from the curbside in a commingled fashion.

References:

American Plastics Council, How to Collect Plastics for Recycling, (American Plastics Council, Washington, D.C.), 1995.

Steuteville, Robert, “Keys to curbside efficiency and performance,” BioCycle, Vol. 37/No. 7 (July 1996), pp. 38-42.