Singapore-based startup Thermapet Technologies has revealed its patented technology for producing ‘fully circular’ amorphous-polyethylene terephthalate (APET) based trays and cups.
The company’s TPET is apparently produced from virgin or recycled PET without the use of nucleating agents or additives, with a high temperature resistance of up to 220°C, allowing it to be used for microwave or oven solutions and aiming to close the gap between PET based products and polyolefin alternatives.
Thermapet says this forming process ensures that its containers remain pure PET, enabling them to enter the bottle-to-bottle recycling stream – said to be the only fully circular recycling system in existence – and the additive-free approach means the containers can be recycled indefinitely through Solid-State Polycondensation (SSP), restoring them to ‘like-new’ condition with every cycle.
It can also be used as a replacement for aluminium-based solutions such as inflight meal trays. The company says that pure PET has 100% recyclability and its new solution addresses the challenges posed by traditional single-use plastics, offering an ‘environmentally friendly’ alternative that is both durable and circular.
Thermapet’s technology is said to reduce environmental impact by over 50%, aiming to create value in the recycled product and motivate waste collection. The TPET process allegedly has the potential to boost recycling rates and PET global feedstock production by up to 30%.
The company seeks to replace polyolefin based microwavable containers with an APET based, ‘fully retort and oven-able’ alternative. It hopes to reduce plastic waste by producing PET containers that are entirely recyclable, unlike conventional PP and PE single use alternatives which are challenging to recycle due to added compounds and low durability.
The company has taken out patents in 75 countries including China and seeks to capture significant market share in Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand, where it aims to replace PP and PE based single-use containers.
In February, Celebration Packaging implemented 30% recycled PET into its new range of tamper-evident containers for sandwiches, salad, and deli foods. The move intended to protect edible products, enhance recyclability and avoid taxes on plastic packaging.
A few months later, H-Pack developed standalone, premium containers made of kraft paper with accompanying PET lids, in a reported ‘industry first’. Designed for high-end hot and cold foods, the transparent PET lids are implemented to reveal the food inside the pack, enabling consumers to view the product before they buy.
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