Austrian technology boost for Canadian PET bottle recycler

Canada – Innovative recycling technology does make a difference, insists Canadian water bottler Ice River Springs. In 2016, the company installed the Starlinger recoSTAR PET bottle-to-bottle recycling line and has significantly improved its recycling performance.

‘Our Starlinger system with Flex Disc filters was a positive investment for Ice River Springs,’ says a spokesperson from the company. ‘The new filtration system has improved our purification process, reduced waste and improved performance to a level at, or beyond, the commitment made by Starlinger.

As recycling streams evolve and become more challenging, this reliable system will continue to provide the quality resin required by Ice River Springs in the coming years.’ Owing to Nordson’s BKG Flex Disc filter cartridge, which has been included for melt filtration, output is even higher than the values guaranteed in the acceptance protocol.

Also, the purge rate has been reduced by 40%, according to the company, ‘and the melt loss due to backflushing is below the minimum values’. Based at Feversham in Ontario, Ice River Springs runs plants in Canada and the USA.

The company operates its own PET bottle-to-bottle recycling operation – Blue Mountain Plastics of Shelburne – which is equipped with washing and recycling lines, and produces bottles with up to 100% recycled PET. The company runs a vertically-integrated operation that also includes preform production and bottle filling plants, which complete the system for closed-loop PET bottle recycling.

Ice River Springs is claimed to be the only beverage company in North America to operate such a system.