Recycled material: what it is and how to use it responsibly
Recycled material is plastic that, after use or production, has been collected, cleaned, sorted and reprocessed into raw material. Depending on its origin, it is referred to as post-consumer recycled material (PCR) or post-industrial recycled material (PIR). Both reduce the use of virgin plastic and lower the carbon footprint of the end product.
PCR or PIR: two routes, one goal
Post-consumer recycled material comes from products that consumers have used and subsequently returned: PET bottles, HDPE packaging, PP crates from return schemes. This material undergoes an intensive cleaning and sorting process before being reused as a raw material.
Post-industrial recyclate is different in nature. It arises as production waste: cutting offcuts, start-up pieces, and rejects from quality control. This material is cleaner and more uniform than PCR, as it has never been in use. The processing steps are fewer and the quality is more consistent.
Which plastics are suitable?
Thermoplastics such as PE, PP, PET and HDPE are remeltable and therefore well suited to mechanical recycling. After recycling, they retain a large proportion of their properties, particularly if the material has been properly sorted and contains little contamination.
Thermosets and composites are a different matter. They cannot be remelted, which makes mechanical recycling impossible. Chemical recycling exists as an alternative, but is still only available to a limited extent on an industrial scale and is often not economically viable for standard applications.
Recycled material is not the same as virgin material
That’s correct. Nor is it the aim for it to be identical. Recycled material sometimes has slightly different properties: tensile strength, impact resistance or processability may vary slightly, depending on the material’s processing history. The more often a thermoplastic has been melted, the shorter the polymer chains.
For non-critical applications, such as transport crates, pallets or exterior cladding, the properties of well-sorted recycled material are more than adequate. For technical components with tight tolerances, the choice of recycled material type and the proportion in the mix is a deliberate engineering decision, not an after-the-fact production choice.
Recycled material in reusable crates: a logical combination
Reusable crates are one of the most suitable applications for recycled material. The aesthetic requirements are lower than for consumer products. The mechanical loads can be clearly specified: stacking forces, cleaning cycles, temperature fluctuations. Good-quality recycled material meets these requirements by a comfortable margin.
Read more about our approach to sustainable production.
