Bio-plastics have come into criticism because the resources are
not always available to bring their green credentials to life.
However, NatureWorks said equipment is on the market capable of
accurately sorting natural plastic bottles from other bottles.
Identification of capable equipment suppliers The bio-plastics
manufacturer said it had identified a dozen companies offering
systems that can sort bio-resins and has tested the accuracies
of three. For example, using its near-infrared sorting system
Titech was able to eject concentrated amounts of NatureWorks
Ingeo PLA in a PET sorting operation with an accuracy of 97.5
percent in a single pass. NatureWorks said its conclusions were
supported by WRAP, the not-for-profit waste management body. In
a report published in June last year called ‘Domestic Mixed
Plastics Packaging Waste Options, WRAP said: “NIR (near-
infrared) systems can effectively remove PLA bio-plastic and
carton board from a mixed packaging stream.” While the equipment
needed to separate bio-pla