Amcor sees recycling future for minibar bottles

Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Amcor Rigid Packaging has announced a materials design change it says will enable as many as 1 billion 50 milliliter (1.7-ounce) spirits bottles to be more identifiable to materials recovery facility (MRF) equipment, and thus ultimately be recycled.

The small polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles are used in quantity by airlines and hotels, made from a type of plastic that is commonly recycled. However, according to Amcor, the bottles often are “lost in the recycling process due to their small size.” The bottles tend to slip out of the sorting process when broken glass is filtered out for separation or disposal, says Amcor.

“We know that many small bottles are falling through screens in our MRFs designed to separate glass, so this is a major development – it allows these bottles to pass this step in the process and have the opportunity to be captured by the appropriate equipment downstream,” says Curt Cozart of the Washington-based Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR). “At a time when the recycling industry is constrained by material supply, every additional pound diverted from waste makes a big difference.”

Amcor, which says it has pledged to develop all its packaging to be recyclable, compostable or reusable by 2025, empowered some of its engineers to examine the issue. Subsequently, they began designing a container that “collapses in a controlled way to maximize its width,” says the company. With a collapsed width greater than 5 centimeters (nearly two inches), the bottles would be far less likely to slip through the cracks at most U.S. recycling facilities.

“This discovery was made by the Amcor team when testing revealed that the bottles collapse in different ways,” says Terry Patcheak, a vice president at Amcor. “Our simulations demonstrated that when these tiny spirits bottles are designed to collapse in a specific way, fewer bottles actually fall through the cracks. The potential here is higher recyclability rates and more recycled content for multiple segments and materials.”

Amcor’s bottle design includes intentional failure points and is based on APR guidelines. Finite element analysis testing is being undertaken to better understand the dynamics of the small bottles during the recycling process, and Amcor says it also will partner with recycling facilities to “capture real-world data about the recyclability” of its new bottle.

“We look forward to seeing the data and continuing to use this kind of creative approach to look at all of our packaging,” says Patcheak. “In partnering with the APR, we are looking at size, color and material to increase the amount of recycled material that can be turned into more bottles. We look forward to partnering with our customers as we use a new lens to look at ways to meet our shared sustainability goals.”