Bottles which are made from 100 percent rPET

Morssinkhof buys the plastic bottles from all over (northern) Europe. The bottles are shredded and the PET is regranulated in their factory in Zeewolde. This granulate is not yet suitable for use food packaging (like new bottles). That is why the granulate is transported to their plant in Emmen, where the granulate is heated again, in deep vacuum.

100 percent rPet

After this treatment, the granulate is food-grade and has the right viscosity for the production of rPET bottles. Brand owners the rPET and use it to make new bottles. Coca Cola company adds rPET to its regular production, Bar le Duc produces bottles which are made from 100 percent rPET from Morssinkhof.

In this process, bottles should be clean, preferably collected through the deposit system. They should also be well sorted, as only clear or light blue bottles yield a granulate that can be used for all new clear bottles. Coloured bottles can only be used to make coloured granulates. 

First independent preform-producer

However, Morssinkhof strives to create more added value at their plant in Emmen. As the granulate is already warm after treatment, it makes sense use it for making preforms, the intermediate product that is later blown into a full-size PET bottle. The site has injection-moulding machines with a capacity of 6.000 tons per year. Plans are to eventually produce up to 330 million preforms per year. This will make them the first independent preform-producer in the Netherlands.

Not all rPET is suitable for food packaging. Therefore, Morssinkhof aims to use the available spinning machines to make rPET yarn. The company is currently working on realizing this. In Europe, some 4 million ton of PET bottles are used, half of which will be recycled. Depending on the quality, these could be used to produce fibres, sheet plastics or bottles. Morssinkhof is ready to increase their use of rPET, and is therefore building silo storage capacity for 5,000 tons of granulate at their location in Emmen.