Methods for the treatment of containers

Abstract

A method for reprocessing containers for water-soluble cosmetic products and / or water-soluble cleaning products, comprising the following steps: a. Collecting completely empty and / or partially empty containers of different products from one or more product manufacturers; b. Sorting the containers according to product content and manufacturer; c. Emptying partially empty containers; d. Cleaning the containers with water; e. Delabeling the containers; f. Returning the sorted, cleaned, and delabeled containers to the original product manufacturer.Refilling the containers with the same product content at the original product manufacturer, characterized in that the water used to clean the containers is predominantly rainwater, wherein the rainwater is collected in advance, filtered and stored in a collection basin, and wherein the stored rainwater is heated for cleaning the containers using solar energy, and an interior area of ​​the containers is rinsed with this heated rainwater, and wherein at the end of the cleaning process the containers are dried predominantly using solar energy.

Description

The invention relates to a method for preparing containers for water-soluble cosmetic products and / or water-soluble cleaning products. The petroleum required for the production of plastics is an increasingly scarce raw material that requires significant effort to extract and refine, and is transported over long distances to processing plants. The finished plastic product does not decompose naturally and must be disposed of in a complex process, which also causes environmental problems. Plastic waste is either thermally treated in incineration plants or recycled. Very often, plastic packaging ends up in landfills after a single use, polluting the environment. A particularly big problem is plastic bottles, which are used for a short period and then thrown away, even if they are disposed of in recycling containers. One solution is a reusable system: a bottle is refilled several times and thus reused repeatedly. Such return systems for deposit-return plastic bottles are already familiar from the beverage packaging sector. For non-food plastic containers, such as shampoo and cleaning product bottles, it is still common practice to dispose of empty or partially empty containers after use. Packaging material collected through existing waste management systems is usually only incinerated. Newly manufactured containers are typically used for filling cosmetic and cleaning products. From WO 2020 / 128937 A1 a method for the return of different packaging with direct compensation is known, in which an RFID label on the packaging is read and linked to the data of the buyer. Furthermore, methods and devices for sorting empty packaging are known from the prior art, involving material sorting and subsequent recycling. For example, EP 0 612 046 B1 describes a method and a device for handling recyclable packaging such as bottles and cans. A recyclable package is placed in the packaging receiving chamber of the device, conveyed by a conveyor to a package identification position, and then, based on this identification, transferred to a shredding device. A disadvantage of all previously known approaches in the field of cosmetic and cleaning products is that packaging containers are disposed of after use. Similarly, residual product contents in partially emptied containers are usually disposed of as well. The object of the invention is therefore to propose a method for reprocessing containers for water-soluble cosmetic products and / or water-soluble cleaning products, in which the use of the containers is characterized by improved resource utilization. Furthermore, the efficiency of recycling the product contents of these containers is to be increased. This task is solved using a procedure that includes the following steps: a. Collecting completely empty and / or partially empty containers of different products from one or more manufacturers; b. Sorting the containers according to product content and manufacturer; c. Emptying partially empty containers; d. Cleaning the containers with water; e. Delabeling the containers; f. Returning the sorted, cleaned, and delabeled containers to the original manufacturer; g. Refilling the containers with the same product content at the original manufacturer's site. This type of processing allows containers to be reused for refilling with water-soluble cosmetic or cleaning products. Since the containers are reusable, resource utilization is improved. The possibility of reuse arises particularly from the sorting and return of the containers to the original product manufacturer by type. Typically, when cleaning containers for cosmetic or cleaning products, the fragrances contained in the product contents cannot be completely removed from the containers or their inner walls. However, because the return of the containers by type allows for refilling with the same product contents, any fragrances remaining on the inner walls from the previous filling are not a problem. Cleaning the containers also ensures that there is no mixing of potentially contaminated contents.Dried-out or possibly expired residues may be mixed or contaminated with a new filling. A container is considered completely empty when its product contents have been emptied as intended. Generally, this means that the product contents have been removed as planned. Partially empty means that some of the product contents have been removed from the container, but there is still enough product remaining for further removal as intended. One embodiment of the inventive method provides that, during emptying, the product contents are collected separately by type and then returned to the original product manufacturer. This increases the efficiency of recycling the product contents from the containers. This approach is particularly advantageous when, on the one hand, correspondingly large quantities of product contents accumulate during emptying and, on the other hand, these product contents have a long shelf life. In one embodiment of the method, for the final emptying of partially emptied containers, these containers are tilted with their opening facing downwards at an angle between 0° and 90°, preferably between 30° and 90°, more preferably between 60° and 90°, for a time in the range of 0 min to 30 min, more preferably 2 min to 25 min, more preferably 5 min to 15 min. A device specifically designed for this purpose is preferably used. The method according to the invention provides that the water for cleaning the containers is predominantly rainwater, wherein the rainwater is collected in advance, filtered and stored in a collection basin, and wherein the stored rainwater is heated for cleaning the containers using solar energy, and an interior area of ​​the containers is rinsed with this heated rainwater, and wherein at the end of the cleaning the containers are dried predominantly using solar energy. In an advantageous embodiment, the containers are filling containers provided by the respective product manufacturer. Thus, the inventive method allows these containers, originally designed as single-use containers, to be reused and effectively used as reusable containers. Alternatively, the containers can also be designed as reusable containers from the outset and provided to the product manufacturers for initial filling. An advantageous embodiment of the method according to the invention provides that the containers are bottles or cans. The proposed method is particularly interesting for shampoo or shower gel bottles, all-purpose cleaner bottles, deodorant spray cans, soap dispensers, or also detergent or textile care product containers. Another configuration stipulates that the bottles or cans are made of glass, plastic, metal, a composite material, or a combination of materials. The container materials used are very diverse, so a corresponding sorting and recycling process must also take this material diversity into account. A particularly advantageous embodiment of the method according to the invention provides that the product contents are liquid, viscous, or powdery. Examples of such products are shower gel, shampoo, hairspray, glass cleaner, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, soaps, or even scouring powder. An advantageous embodiment of the method according to the invention provides that the containers are collected at decentralized collection points. The containers can be collected in various ways and at different locations. Supermarkets or drugstores, for example, are particularly suitable. Another advantageous design involves pre-sorting the containers at the decentralized collection points. This can be achieved, for example, by providing the collection points with different openings for depositing the containers. Another approach to pre-sorting would be to equip these collection points with a reader for barcodes, RFID codes, or similar technologies, and for the pre-sorting to be carried out internally within the collection points, for example, by means of adjustable dividers, rather than by the person depositing the containers. A further embodiment of the method according to the invention provides that the containers are sorted in a central sorting unit according to product manufacturer and product contents. For this purpose, the unsorted or already pre-sorted containers are brought from the decentralized collection points to the central sorting unit. A further advantageous embodiment of the method according to the invention provides that the central sorting unit comprises at least one reader for barcodes and / or RFID codes and / or DMC codes and / or at least one camera. A machine-readable marking can serve as the basis for sorting the containers. Almost every packaging container today already has coding that contains a multitude of information and data about the product. Barcodes are particularly common. A barcode consists of several lines of varying thicknesses, light and dark. These are arranged according to a specific coding rule and can be read and decoded using optical readers. It is therefore a so-called optoelectronically readable script. Here, "coding" does not refer to encryption, but rather to the representation of data in binary symbols.This has the advantage that a lot of data can be compressed into a small space. Even if no code is present, the labeling of the containers can be identified using a camera with text recognition. A particularly advantageous design provides for database-driven sorting in the central sorting unit. The data captured by at least one reader and / or camera is compared with data stored in a database, which may consist of legally required information on the containers of cosmetic or cleaning products. For example, Article 19 of the EU Cosmetics Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1223 / 2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on cosmetic products) requires a wide range of information, including details of the manufacturer, intended use, chemical ingredients, and shelf life. A database connected to the sorting unit contains all the necessary data to assign the captured containers and their contents to the manufacturers listed in the database. The inventive method for preparing containers is explained below with reference to the drawing. Fig. 1 shows a schematic embodiment of the inventive method, and Fig. 2 shows an embodiment of a sorting process in the sorting unit. The inventive method for preparing containers for water-soluble cosmetic products and / or water-soluble cleaning products is shown schematically in Fig. 1. First, empty and / or partially empty containers of various products from one and other manufacturers are collected at decentralized collection points. The containers are then sorted by product content and manufacturer in a central sorting unit. After any partially emptied containers are completely emptied, they are cleaned with water. Once the containers are unlabeled, they are returned to the original manufacturer, where they are refilled with the same product content. In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, when partially emptied containers are emptied, the product contents are collected separately by type and then returned to the original product manufacturer. However, this is not mandatory. If, for example, the product contents have a short shelf life, they can also be disposed of after emptied containers. Similarly, the collected product contents can also be disposed of if only small total quantities of product are generated across a large number of containers and returning them to the respective product manufacturer is not economically viable. To speed up the sorting process in the sorting unit, the containers can optionally be pre-sorted at the decentralized collection points. The containers can be filling containers provided by the respective product manufacturer. Alternatively, they can also be reusable containers provided to the product manufacturers for initial filling. These containers can be bottles or cans made of materials such as glass, plastic, metal, composite materials, or other materials. The product contents can be liquid, viscous, or powdery. In one embodiment of the method, for the final emptying of partially emptied containers, these containers are tilted with their opening facing downwards at an angle between 0° and 90°, preferably between 30° and 90°, more preferably between 60° and 90°, for a time in the range of 0 min to 30 min, more preferably 2 min to 25 min, more preferably 5 min to 15 min. For this purpose, a specially developed device is preferably used. The process involves using predominantly rainwater for cleaning the containers, with the rainwater being collected, filtered and stored in a collection basin beforehand, and the stored rainwater being heated using solar energy for cleaning the containers, and an interior area of ​​the containers being rinsed with this heated rainwater, and at the end of the cleaning process the containers being dried predominantly using solar energy. In contrast to the design shown in Fig. 1, the containers can also be collected at a central collection point. Likewise, in contrast to the design shown in Fig. 1, the containers can also be sorted by manufacturer and contents in decentralized sorting units. Figure 2 illustrates the sorting process within a central sorting unit. The containers are first positioned in a positioning unit so that a barcode, RFID, or DMC code reader and / or a camera can capture the relevant information on the container. This information could include details on a label affixed by the product manufacturer or the container's outer contour. For example, the data might be legally required information on the containers of cosmetic and cleaning products. The captured data is then compared with data stored in a database. In a subsequent sorting unit, the containers are sorted according to product manufacturer and contents based on this database comparison.From there, depending on the container type (bottle, can) and contents (liquid, paste, powder), they are transferred to a corresponding emptying unit. In the emptying unit, any remaining product contents are removed and collected separately. The completely emptied containers are then cleaned inside and out, and any labels or markings are removed. Both the containers and the collected product contents are then returned to the manufacturers, sorted by type. Returning the product contents to the original manufacturers is optional. However, collecting the product contents separately can be advantageous, as it may not be possible to mix all the different types of product contents together.

Claims

A method for reprocessing containers for water-soluble cosmetic products and / or water-soluble cleaning products, comprising the following steps: a. Collecting completely empty and / or partially empty containers of different products from one or more product manufacturers; b. Sorting the containers according to product content and manufacturer; c. Emptying partially empty containers; d. Cleaning the containers with water; e. Delabeling the containers; f. Returning the sorted, cleaned, and delabeled containers to the original product manufacturer.Refilling the containers with the same product content at the original product manufacturer, characterized in that the water used to clean the containers is predominantly rainwater, wherein the rainwater is collected in advance, filtered and stored in a collection basin, and wherein the stored rainwater is heated for cleaning the containers using solar energy, and an interior area of ​​the containers is rinsed with this heated rainwater, and wherein at the end of the cleaning process the containers are dried predominantly using solar energy. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that during residual emptying the product contents are collected separately by type and subsequently returned to the original product manufacturer. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, for the purpose of residual emptying of partially emptied containers, these containers are inclined with their container opening pointing downwards at an angle between 0° and 90°, preferably between 30° and 90°, more preferably between 60° and 90°, for a time in the range between 0 min to 30 min, preferably 2 min to 25 min, more preferably 5 min to 15 min. Method according to one of the aforementioned claims, characterized in that the containers are filling containers provided by the respective product manufacturer or that the containers are provided to the product manufacturers as reusable containers for initial filling. Method for processing containers according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the containers are bottles or cans. Method for preparing containers according to claim 5, characterized in that the bottles or cans are made of glass or plastic or metal or a composite material or a combination of materials. Method for preparing containers according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the product contents are liquid, viscous or powdery. Method for processing containers according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the containers are collected in decentralized collection points. Method for processing containers according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the containers are pre-sorted in the decentralized collection points. Method for processing containers according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the containers are sorted in a central sorting unit according to manufacturer and contents. Method for processing containers according to claim 10, characterized in that the central sorting unit has at least one reader for barcodes and / or for RFID codes and / or for DMC codes and / or at least one camera. Method for processing containers according to claim 11, characterized in that the sorting in the central sorting unit is database-based, wherein the data captured with the reading device and / or the camera are compared with data stored in a database. Method for preparing containers according to claim 12, characterized in that the data stored in the database are legally required information on the containers of the cosmetic products or the cleaning products.

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