PlastiColors has brought to shore a new raft of Evonik additives – each designed to sharpen the efficiency, economy and quality of post-consumer plastic recycling.

While much of the packaging industry’s focus has shifted to biodegradable materials, PlastiColors’ technical manager, Carolyn Kellock, is refreshingly pragmatic: ‘Recycling still carries the heaviest load in terms of environmental responsibility. It’s our frontline defence and it needs better tools.’ Enter Evonik’s TEGO suite, a sophisticated range of recycling additives that includes TEGO Antifoam, TEGO Cycle and TEGO Sorb. Each product is designed to tackle a specific recycling challenge – whether it’s foaming, high moisture content, label ink, mixed-stream brittleness or lingering odours.

The most transformative players in the lineup are TEGO Cycle WA 120 and Cycle WA 111 – a duo of multifunctional wetting agents that, according to Carolyn, can ‘change the game in flotation-based sorting.’ In recycling lines, PET flakes often defy gravity. Despite their density, they float because they are too thin, too light and too slick. ‘What TEGO Cycle does,’ she explains, ‘is modify the surface tension of the plastic just enough to help those dense flakes sink. It’s a minuscule adjustment with massive sorting implications.’

But TEGO Cycle WA 111’s prowess doesn’t end with flotation. It also moonlights as a de-inking agent – and a highly effective one at that. ‘You add just 0.5% to your wash water,’ says Carolyn, ‘and together with abrasion, it lifts ink off the substrate as well as separating metal to plastic layers. We’ve tested it on in-mould labels and even Tetra Pak films. Together with abrasion in the wash cycle, the ink wipes away into the water system.’ This simple chemical intervention improves more than just aesthetics – it radically enhances the sensory and mechanical quality of the recycled output. Odour? Diminished. Gel formation? Reduced. Drying time? Shortened. ‘It even improves drainage because the flake sheds water faster,’ she adds. ‘That means less drying energy and less need for desiccant masterbatches to counter high moisture content in the next conversion process.’

When polyethylene, PET and polystyrene meet in a blender of municipal chaos, the result is usually a brittle, unruly compound. ‘TEGO Cycle compatibilisers help make those materials play nice,’ Carolyn quips. ‘We’ve seen film elongation jump from 270% to well over 400%, all while maintaining tensile strength. That’s not just better recycling – that’s better product.’