PET tray recycling Egypt

Boretech and ECC Advance PET Tray Recycling in Egypt With GreenTech Project

Boretech has signed an agreement with the Egyptian Chinese Company, or ECC, for a new PET tray recycling installation in Egypt.

Known as GreenTech, the project will use a PET tray washing line with a stated processing capacity of 4,000 kilograms per hour. The facility is intended to transform post-consumer PET trays into clean recycled flakes that can be used in new tray production.

According to the project partners, GreenTech will be the first installation in Africa and the Middle East dedicated specifically to washing PET trays. This regional-first status has been announced by Boretech and ECC but has not yet been independently verified.

A new application for recycled PET in Egypt

PET recycling has traditionally concentrated heavily on beverage bottles. Trays used for fruit, vegetables, meat, prepared foods and other packaged products create a different set of processing challenges.

Unlike many bottles, post-consumer trays can arrive tightly compressed and mixed with labels, adhesives, films and other polymers. Their thinner and more brittle structure also increases the risk of material breaking into small pieces during opening, sorting and washing.

These characteristics can reduce recovery rates and make it more difficult to produce recycled material of consistent quality.

The GreenTech line is intended to address these issues through a process designed specifically for PET and polypropylene trays. Boretech says the system combines material loosening, intensive hot washing, label and contaminant separation, and technologies intended to reduce the loss of usable PET during processing.

From discarded trays to reusable PET flakes

Once operational, the line is expected to process collected PET trays into flakes suitable for further recycling.

The project’s central objective is tray-to-tray recycling. Under this model, material recovered from used trays is processed and returned to the packaging supply chain rather than being diverted exclusively into lower-value applications.

Producing flakes for new food-contact packaging requires more than simply shredding and washing the trays. Recyclers must control contamination, polymer composition, adhesives, moisture and flake quality. Subsequent decontamination and manufacturing stages must also comply with the applicable safety and regulatory requirements.

The washing line is therefore one part of a broader recycling chain that includes collection, sorting, quality testing and final reprocessing.

Why PET trays need a dedicated washing process

PET trays can be difficult to separate and clean because they frequently contain multilayer structures, labels, absorbent pads, glue residues and components made from other plastics.

Compacted bales can also be difficult to open without damaging the material. Aggressive mechanical treatment may improve separation but can create additional fines and reduce the quantity of recoverable PET.

Boretech says its system uses controlled material opening and intensive washing to balance cleanliness with material recovery. A high-capacity air-separation system, described by the company as a Mega Aspirator, is intended to remove labels and lightweight contaminants from the processed flakes.

The company has previously presented PET tray recycling as a specialised extension of its experience in PET bottle processing. Earlier projects and demonstration facilities have focused on overcoming contamination, compaction and brittleness problems associated with tray waste.  PET tray recycling Egypt

ECC expands its recycled polyester activities

ECC operates in the plastics and polyester-fibre sector and is seeking to improve both the quality and volume of its recycled polyester production.

Mahmoud Samir, owner of ECC, said the company selected Boretech because of its recycling technology and experience with PET processing. He also acknowledged consulting engineer Tarek Abdelmawgoud for providing strategic advice during the project-planning phase.

ECC expects the installation to support its longer-term involvement in PET circularity and strengthen its technical partnership with Boretech.

The companies have not yet publicly disclosed the project’s investment value, construction timetable, expected annual production volume or commissioning date.

The project fits Egypt’s evolving waste strategy

GreenTech is being developed as Egypt continues to formalise waste management and producer responsibility.

Egypt’s Extended Producer Responsibility framework requires producers and importers to assume greater responsibility for waste generated by products placed on the market. The framework is designed to improve collection, transportation, treatment, recycling and regulatory reporting.

This policy direction could increase demand for infrastructure capable of converting post-consumer packaging into usable industrial feedstock.

Other PET recycling investments have also been announced in Egypt in recent years, particularly in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. These projects indicate growing industrial interest in recovering PET for food-grade packaging and other higher-value applications.

GreenTech differs from conventional bottle-recycling investments because it is designed around the particular physical and contamination characteristics of trays.

Potential significance for regional recycling

A successful installation could provide useful operational evidence for recyclers evaluating PET tray processing elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East.

Its wider significance will depend on several factors, including the availability of separately collected trays, sorting quality, operating efficiency, final flake specifications and demand from packaging manufacturers.

Collection remains especially important. Even an advanced washing system requires a sufficiently consistent supply of recoverable material. Cooperation among municipalities, waste collectors, sorting facilities, packaging producers and recyclers will therefore be necessary to support continuous production.

The project could also help demonstrate whether tray-to-tray recycling can operate commercially at scale under regional market conditions.

A step toward higher-value plastics recycling

GreenTech represents a shift from general plastic recovery toward recycling systems designed for specific packaging formats.

By targeting PET trays separately, Boretech and ECC aim to recover more material and produce cleaner flakes than would typically be possible in a mixed-plastics process.

The announced capacity of four tonnes per hour makes the project a notable industrial development for PET tray recycling in Egypt. Its ultimate environmental and commercial impact, however, will become measurable only after the facility enters operation and publishes data on output quality, recovery rates, energy consumption and end markets.

For now, the agreement signals growing interest in keeping PET packaging materials in higher-value, closed-loop applications instead of treating used trays as low-grade plastic waste.

Key facts

Project: GreenTech

Location: Egypt

Investor and operator: Egyptian Chinese Company, or ECC

Technology provider: Boretech

Input material: Post-consumer PET trays

Stated processing capacity: 4,000 kilograms per hour

Intended output: Clean recycled PET flakes

Target application: Tray-to-tray recycling

Development stage: Contract announced; commissioning date not publicly disclosed

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