Regulations increasingly require that plastic products contain recycled content. Additionally, customers want to support brands that promise sustainable practices, but they are not willing to compromise on quality and they shouldn’t have to.
Manufacturers must adapt to meet both regulatory requirements and consumer demand. Chemical recycling can allow brands to offer products that are durable and high-performing, and that also support a transition to more sustainable materials.
Tritan™ Renew from Eastman uses an innovative form of chemical recycling, called Polyester Renewal Technology (PRT), that empowers brands to maintain quality and brand identity while using high ratios of recycled content.
This technology uses hard to recycle plastic waste as feedstock (instead of fossil fuel) to offer virgin like materials with recycled content, opening new opportunities for the incorporation of recycled content into specific applications.
The benefits of Tritan™ Renew specialty plastic
Tritan Renew copolyester provides the sustainability that brands need without sacrificing the quality that brands and their final customers expect.
Tritan Renew is part of Eastman’s Renew Circular Solutions, which is a portfolio of high-quality materials containing up to 100% recycled content*.
Renew Circular Solutions specialty plastic can be applied to a wide range of applications, including:
- Cosmetic and personal care packaging
- Durable applications, such as:
- Drinkware
- Hydration and reusable sports bottles
- Home appliances
- Consumer goods
- Medical applications and devices
Tritan Renew allows manufacturers to keep the quality and transparency of their products while enhancing them to further improve their sustainability goals. Plus, it's 100% BPA-free, making it the ideal material for food-contact applications, especially with the latest regulatory changes.
Manufacturers can also use Tritan™ Renew in place of styrenic plastics like Styrene acrylonitrile (SAN) and Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Tritan range is free of BPA and BPS as well as harmful chemicals with similar structures as BPA and BPS.
Eastman Polyester Renewal Technology for hard-to-recycle plastic waste
Eastman creates Tritan Renew through its breakthrough polyester renewal technology (PRT). This unique recycling method uses a methanolysis process to break down hard-to-recycle waste plastic back into its basic chemical building blocks.
This process enables tackling the waste that is currently downcycled or not recycled through the traditional recycling methods, diverting waste from landfills and incineration and reducing dependance to fossil resources.
By breaking down plastic waste into its molecular components, Eastman can recreate virgin like materials to be used again in the production of durable items without compromise on aesthetic, performance and safety. This sustainable material can then be used in a broad range of applications without any trade-off.
Mass balance brings sustainable options to new applications
The recycled content of Eastman Renew Circular Solutions is achieved through a mass balance allocation method.
As Eastman mixes traditional feedstock with hard to recycle plastic waste in its production process, the mass balance approach tracks the amount of recycled plastic input throughout the production system, even though the specific recycled molecules cannot be physically separated or identified in the final product. This ensures transparency and accountability for recycled content claims.
Eastman’s mass balance method is certified by third parties to ISCC+ standards, providing clear sustainability compliance guidelines and assurance that recycled content is properly accounted for and integrated.
Mass balance is essential to enable plastic circularity, especially for hard to recycle waste. It allows the use of recycled feedstock within complex manufacturing processes while maintaining product quality and performance. This expands the opportunities to apply recycled content to new applications, previously limited by traditional recycling methods, including food contact or contact sensitive materials without compromising quality or safety.
Enhancing sustainable practices with high-quality / virgin-like recycled content
As recycling technologies improve, manufacturers have more options for using high-quality recycled materials. The shift to PIR and PCR is growing, helping reduce reliance on virgin plastics and cutting environmental impact.
No matter where you are on your sustainability journey, choosing the right materials is key. The Renew Circular Solutions portfolio from Eastman makes it easier to adopt recycled content without compromising transparency, safety, performance or quality. Tritan Renew can even be used in food contact applications.
At IMCD Advanced Materials, we are ready to collaborate with you from concept to production with grades most suited to your needs. Please reach out to your local IMCD representative to request material specifications and samples.
*ISCC+ certified recycled content allocated via mass balance.