Unlocking PET Bottle Recyclability: Transitioning from Problematic Shrink Sleeves to Floatable Polyolefin Material in South Africa - Plastic Reboot
Unlocking PET Bottle Recyclability: Transitioning from Problematic Shrink Sleeves to Floatable Polyolefin Material in South Africa
This is the second in a series of articles from Plastic Reboot – South Africa, sharing insights and learnings that support and embed a circular economy approach.
by GreenCape, South Africa
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Problematic shrink sleeves made from PET, PETG and PVC can disrupt PET bottle recycling. Plastic Reboot – South Africa explores how collaboration across the plastics packaging value chain unlocks PET bottle recyclability through floatable polyolefin shrink sleeves as a redesign solution.
PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are one of the most widely used packaging formats in the food and beverage sector, protecting products, extending shelf life and enabling efficient distribution across global supply chains. Yet packaging can quickly become waste when it is not designed with recycling in mind. Materials that are functional for production and marketing can disrupt recycling systems, making thoughtful material selection one of the most important steps in designing packaging for a circular economy for plastics.
Plastic Reboot – South Africa works with stakeholders across the plastics value chain to promote the uptake of circular solutions for the food and beverage sector. A key focus area of this initiative is the elimination of problematic and unnecessary plastics by providing direct support to the private sector to support their mid- and upstream circular plastics interventions.
A case study developed by GreenCape, Secretariat of the South African (SA) Plastics Pact, highlights how early adopters of polyolefin shrink sleeves succeeded in improving the recyclability of PET beverage bottles. The SA Plastics Pact is a voluntary initiative that brings together businesses, government and civil society to accelerate the transition to a circular plastics economy. The case study shows that this progress depended on close collaboration between value-chain role players.
The Problem: PET, PETG or PVC Shrink Sleeves
PET beverage bottles are one of the most successfully recycled packaging formats in South Africa, with 67% reportedly collected for recycling in 2024. However, shrink sleeves – a 360-degree, form-fitting label that fully wraps around the bottle – present a significant challenge to this otherwise effective recycling stream.
Shrink sleeves made from PET, PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycol-modified) or PVC (polyvinyl chloride) materials have been identified by the SA Plastics Pact as a priority problematic and unnecessary plastic item. Among the 12 priority items outlined on the Phase 1 list, PET, PETG and PVC shrink sleeves currently represent the largest share by weight still being placed on the market by Pact members. This makes these shrink sleeves a high-impact opportunity for intervention.
The challenge lies in how these materials behave during recycling. PET, PETG and PVC sleeves are difficult to separate from PET bottles during standard recycling processes. As a result, they contaminate the recycling stream or require costly manual removal. In many cases, bottles that are technically recyclable are rejected during sorting and are ultimately landfilled or become litter in the environment because of the sleeves attached to them.
A Viable Substitute: Floatable Polyolefin Material
From the SA Plastics Pact Action Groups, members identified several pathways to address the shrink sleeve challenge, including replacing them with labels, eliminating the sleeves entirely or substituting the sleeve material.
For some products, replacing shrink sleeves with smaller labels can improve recyclability while still providing essential product information. However, labels do not always offer the same branding space or product protection as shrink sleeves. For many applications, elimination is not practical because shrink sleeves perform important functions. They provide space for regulatory information and branding, and sometimes protect the product from light exposure.
Material substitution through the use of floatable polyolefin sleeves has emerged as the most viable near-term solution. Polyolefin materials include polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP). Unlike PET, PETG or PVC sleeves, these materials can be separated from PET bottles during recycling through float-sink processes. The floatable polyolefin material collects at the top of the tank and can then be easily captured and removed, whereas the PET material sinks to the bottom. This compatibility preserves the shrink sleeve's pre-recycling functional advantages while allowing the bottle material to be recovered during recycling.
Success stories emerging from collaboration between SA Plastics Pact members provide some best practice examples that address problematic shrink sleeves. Woolworths, a leading multinational brand owner and retail company, worked with a locally operating multinational supplier and label manufacturer, MCC, to find an alternative. The alternative was PP, a floatable polyolefin material compatible with PET recycling processes. In 2023, Woolworths transitioned its first product line to PP shrink sleeves. Since then, more product lines have followed.
SPUR Corporation, a leading multinational franchised casual-dining restaurant group, conducted test trials with printing supplier and a PET bottle manufacturer, Polyoak Packaging, to identify floatable polyolefin material as a suitable alternative. In 2024, SPUR transitioned shrink sleeves (supplied by MCC) on sauce bottles supplied to restaurants to polyolefin material.
Unlocking Full Circularity: Adoption at Scale
Collective action across the value chain can enable a market-wide transition to polyolefin shrink sleeves. To unlock the full circularity of this shift, importers, brand owners and retailers need to take up polyolefin shrink sleeves on PET beverage bottles at scale. The broader circularity benefits include the decreased use of virgin fossil-based plastic, less waste to landfill, and reduced plastic leakage into the environment. The SA Plastics Pact provides a platform for knowledge sharing and collaboration and supports brand owners and retailers to accelerate the adoption polyolefin shrink sleeves on PET beverage bottles.
This article is based on the case study, Shrinking the Problem? Addressing Problematic PET, PETG and PVC Shrink Sleeves on Food and Beverage Bottles, produced by GreenCape under Component 3 (Private Sector Engagement) of Plastic Reboot – South Africa. This publication was funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The contents of this article are the sole responsibility of GreenCape and do not necessarily reflect the views of the GEF Secretariat.
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