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We remember when “sorting” for PET recycling washing lines meant a team of people standing over a slow moving belt, trying to pick out impurities from desired PET bottles while breathing in dust and steam. Back then, “food-grade” was a pipe dream for most. We were lucky if our bales were clean enough for polyester fiber applications.

But the industry has shifted. The global push for a circular economy, driven by both regulators and eco-conscious consumers has turned recycled PET (rPET) into a commodity more valuable than virgin plastic in most of the markets.

To get there, you need more than just a washing line. You need a system that thinks, adapts, and scales.

1. The High Stakes of “Food-Grade” (rPET)

When we talk about “Food-Grade,” we aren’t just talking about it being clean. We are talking about toxicological safety.

Producing food-grade recycled PET (rPET) requires extremely high material purity. When PET bottles are collected and crushed, foreign materials can easily mix into the stream, for example, PET articles which were used for non-food applications, bottle caps made from Non-PET, labels made from PVC or other Non-PET, metal coming from caps, rings or springs. If these incompatible materials are not identified and removed before processing, they can contaminate the entire recycling batch and reduce the quality of the final rPET.

This is why the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and the FSSAI  have stringent rules.

“Any material which comes in direct contact with food or likely to come in contact with food used for packaging, preparation, storing, wrapping, transportation and sale or service of food shall be of food grade quality.”

  • The Problem: In traditional sorting methods, how do you tell the difference between a PET bottle that held spring water and a PET bottle that held liquid detergent or other chemicals
  • The Reality: With a traditional approach you can’t. Not at scale. Traditional sorters look for polymers, and colors, and not the previous applications of the  packaging. This is where Ishitva’s AI driven sorting solutions becomes a   necessity, and not just a “nice-to-have.”
2. The Bottleneck: It is expensive to purify the material

When we talk to the regional aggregators they are frustrated. They have plenty of waste coming in, but their output is stalled. Here is the “Expert’s View” on why the old way is a dead end:

Errors & Fatigue

Working in a dirty and hazardous environment, manual output often results in very compromised sorting output. In addition, even to process 5 tons per day you would need more space and more manpower than most aggregators can manage.  Furthermore, any error can prove a catastrophe in food-grade recycling.

Whereas Ishitva’s AI driven sorting system, PET1, exclusively designed for PET aggregation centres,  can analyze, sort, categorize and prepare bales of purified PET bottles.

Challenges in Achieving Food-Grade rPET
ISSUE
What Happens
Impact on rPET Quality
Degraded PET
PET exposed to sunlight or harsh conditions undergoes molecular breakdown (not visible to the eye)
Reduced intrinsic viscosity (IV), brittleness, lower strength
Adhesives & Label Residues
Glue, ink, and label particles remain after washing
Black specks, discoloration, odor issues
PET Look-alike (PETG contamination)
PETG looks identical to PET and enters the stream; though food grade individually, it has different chemical behavior
Processing instability, stickiness during extrusion, haze, reduced strength, not suitable for bottle-to-bottle recycling
Oil, Chemical & Food Residues
Absorbed contaminants from post-consumer use
Odor, safety concerns, difficulty in achieving food-grade compliance
Colored PET Contamination
Small amounts of green, blue, or amber PET mix in
Loss of clarity, downgraded end-use applications
PVC Contamination
Trace PVC enters PET stream (often undetected)
Severe degradation, yellowing, batch rejection
Metal Pieces
Tiny metals or fines remain in flakes
Equipment damage, defects in final product
We understand these challenges because we’ve been on the ground solving them. We’ve worked closely with our clients to help them achieve food-grade and bottle-to-bottle recycling standards.
For us, it’s not just about providing a solution—it’s about partnering with you to uncover the invisible challenges that may be holding you back. Once addressed, these are the levers that truly help you scale and improve your margins.

Let’s Improve Your Yield & Purity. Contact Us

3. Why NIR is not sufficient to achieve Food Grade Purity  

Traditional optical sorting systems rely exclusively on Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIR) sensors, which identify plastics based on their polymer signature. This allows them to distinguish materials such as Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polypropylene (PP), or High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), but they cannot see beyond the polymer itself. As a result, NIR systems cannot determine the brand, packaging design, bottle geometry, color variations, or whether the bottle still carries labels, sleeves, or tamper rings. 

In contrast, Ishitva’s AI-driven systems are trained on billions of packaging images to recognize the full visual identity of the bottle. These systems analyze shape, embossing patterns, label fragments, color, and structural features to identify the packaging type and even distinguish between food-grade and non-food packaging streams. Because the AI recognizes visual and structural cues, it can still identify the bottle even when it is crushed or deformed during collection, for example, a flattened Pepsi bottle can still be recognized as a Pepsi bottle based on its distinctive design features.

Conclusion: 

Achieving food-grade PET is a mountain, but with AI-driven sorting, we finally have the right gear to climb it. Stop fighting the “contamination battle” with old tools. The future of the circular economy is automated, it’s intelligent, and it’s here.

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