Our support mechanism

Commercial-scale recycling projects

How the Petco model works

The Petco model operates in the context of the recycling industry, acknowledging its cyclical nature. While non-plastic packaging can benefit from manufacturers recycling their own post-consumer materials, plastic and liquid board packaging (LBP) face complexities, leading to the establishment of specific recycling companies.

Financial challenges arise as the prices of recycled materials, particularly recycled PET (rPET), fluctuate in competition with virgin plastic. Petco’s model addresses these challenges by supporting recycling partners with standardised rates, ensuring sustainability even during economic downturns. The model emphasises monitoring economic aspects, maintaining a balance between supply and demand, and enhancing the gate price to improve earnings for the collection and recycling value chain.

Petco’s approach aims to foster a sustainable and resilient recycling industry that benefits all stakeholders.

Petco’s recycling partners

Petco allocates a significant portion of its budget to support volume-driven recycling projects with a defined end-use market in their value chain. The financial support provided by Petco enables these partners to invest in essential infrastructure, including new plants and equipment, to meet collection and recycling volume targets. Additionally, the support aids in the acquisition of testing equipment, quality control measures, and the development of new end-use markets. Contracted recycling partners play a crucial role in the collection and recycling value chain by ensuring a market for collectors and a reliable supply of recyclate for packaging manufacturers, contributing to the creation of new products, including recycled packaging. Both the number and capacity of Petco’s recycling partners have grown significantly since inception.

PET (polyethylene terephthalate)

Polyolefins

LBP (liquid board packaging)

Developing end-use market for PET

A balance must be maintained between the collection of post-consumer PET plastic, on the one hand, and the demand for recycled PET end-use products, on the other. This balance between supply and demand is critical to keeping the collection and recycling value chain intact.

In South Africa, post-consumer PET plastic is collected and recycled into various end-use products for the local and export market.

Bottle-2-Bottle (B2B)

One end-use market is that of recycling bottles back into bottles. PET bottles are made from one of the few polymers that can be recycled into the same form – a new bottle – again and again. This closes the recycling loop and enables cradle-to-cradle packaging solutions. Using recycled resin in food-grade PET packaging (including bottles) entails compliance with extremely stringent standards for health and safety and product quality. Non-food-grade recycled PET is used in the manufacture of packaging and bottles for home and personal care, pharmaceutical and other uses.

Bottle-2-Fibre (B2F)

Another end-use market for post-consumer PET bottles in South Africa is the polyester staple fibre market. Polyester staple fibre is used to manufacture clothing, home textiles (duvets, pillows and carpeting), vehicle accessories (carpets, sound insulation, boot linings and seat covers) and synthetic hair pieces. It also has numerous industrial applications, such as geotextiles and insulation.

Other end-use applications

Other end-use applications for PET bottles include PET strapping for the transport and construction industry, and PET filament, used for broom bristles.

Developing end-use markets for polyolefins

Polyolefins are a group of plastics that include high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), and biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP). These materials are used in the caps and labels of PET bottles and jars. Caps and labels are separated from the base product during the recycling process and are used to make various plastiwood products.

PET shrink sleeves*, on the other hand, are not recycled as they are incompatible with the PET recycling process and contaminate the PET flake. As a result, PET shrink sleeves need to be manually removed from PET bottles and jars prior to the containers being recycled. The PET shrink sleeves are then disposed of.

* Shrink sleeves are labels that tightly cover a bottle or jar, from top to bottom.

Plastiwood

The caps and labels are used to make plastiwood products such as indoor and outdoor furniture, decks, pallets, crates, traffic bollards and manhole covers.

Developing end-use market for LBP

Liquid board packaging (LBP) is separated into two components during the recycling process: paper fibres and polyAl (polyethylene plastic + aluminium).