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HDPE with PCR components will dominate the production of bottle caps

At present, although the number of PP caps is twice that of HDPE caps, this trend is changing because HDPE is more attractive.

The recycling rate of PE is much higher than that of PP, so the goal of product design is recycling and reducing material consumption.

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PP bottle caps are usually lined with LDPE, while HDPE can be used to make all PE bottle caps, which makes it better match with PET beverage bottles. At present, the recovery rate of PET beverage bottles is much higher than that of PP / LDPE bottle caps.

In order to ensure that the bottle cap can stay on the bottle and enter the recycling process with it without turning into garbage, maybe the one-piece bottle cap will play an important role in the future bottle cap.

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The integration of PCR and recycling are the key factors to promote the development of bottle caps in a new direction

Integration PCR

Processors have successfully integrated PIR into molded parts for many years, and the integration of PCR will take a further step forward.

In order to effectively integrate PCR into food contact and non food contact bottle caps, many factors need to be considered.

At present, there are many international examples that have proved that more recycled components can be used together with primary resin, which increases the market demand for recycled materials and helps the industry achieve the goal of sustainability.

Recyclability

Traditionally, most bottle caps are made of two or more different materials to meet the requirements of anti-theft or sealing. However, the transition to a fully recyclable single material PE bottle cap has begun.

With the enhancement of consumer awareness and the improvement of recycling infrastructure, the importance of recycling is becoming increasingly prominent. Therefore, as the primary task of the brand, the design for recycling is rising.

For small HDPE bottles, the benefits of a bottle cap made entirely of PE are obvious, because the whole container is a single material and can be recycled in the same recycling stream.

Adding commonly used PP bottle caps in the current typical floating / sinking polymer separation process will bring problems to the recovery of these bottles, because PP and PE float on the water surface and are not easy to be distinguished by different densities, resulting in a large amount of PP components in the PE recovery stream.

The challenge of recycling PET beverage bottles is different, because many beverage bottle caps, especially those for carbonated soft drinks, are composed of PP shell and PE lining, and the bottle and cap materials will be separated in the floating / sinking process because pet will sink.

However, there will still be parts made of two materials that cannot be separated. Therefore, in this case, the bottle cap made entirely of PE also provides the best recyclability.

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Near infrared (NIR) technology can distinguish slight pollutants, whether PP or PE, but it is not commonly used. Moreover, if the ratio of the two is close to 50 / 50, it will not work. Electrostatic separation is another emerging technology. PP can also be separated from PE, but it is still in its early stage.