Plastic recycling equipment | Washing line for food-grade PET tray flakes in a tray-to-tray loop

PET trays are mostly downcycled

Most post-consumer PET trays in China are downcycled rather than returned to food-contact use. The same gap exists globally. Europe's Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation requires 30% recycled content in sensitive PET packaging by 2030, but in 2022 only 300,000 of the 1.07 million tons of PET used for trays in Europe were recycled. Closed-loop capacity in the Netherlands, Spain, and France combined was 57,000 tons. NAPCOR data shows about 120,000 tons of PET thermoform packaging recycled in North America in 2024.

A closed-loop tray plant in Pinghu

China's first closed-loop PET tray recycling plant operates in Pinghu, Zhejiang. The plant processes 28,000 tons of PET trays per year and produces food-grade PET tray flakes. The output returns to tray production — a tray-to-tray loop.

PET trays are hard to recycle: high compression density, high adhesive content, fragile, and mixed with contaminants. The recycling plant in Pinghu uses a tray recycling and washing line from BoReTech (宝绿特), built on four steps:

Material de-agglomeration: Breaks up compressed tray bales.
Pulsed hot washing: Removes adhesive labels.
Label air separation: Separates labels from the PET stream.
Yield improvement: Controls PET loss through the line.

The resulting flakes meet key indicators for adhesive residue and PVC content, with the potential to reach food-grade application standards.

Smart factory system

The plant runs BoReTech's OptiPlan smart factory system, integrating MES, WMS, and SCADA for end-to-end manufacturing management. Output flakes feed downstream pelletizing and solid-state polycondensation, then return to tray production for new food packaging.

About the exhibitor

BoReTech has installed more than 320 washing lines and related production lines worldwide, processing over 6.12 million tons of PET bottles per year.

Booth: B1C23

At-a-glance

BoReTech | Plastic Recycling Equipment | Washing line for food-grade PET tray flakes in a tray-to-tray loop

BoReTech: Food-Grade PET Tray Recycling in a Closed Loop