A first aspect of the invention relates to a method for recycling a
colored polymer material, the
colored polymeric material comprises (i) a polyalkylene terephthalate-based
polymer, (ii) a colorant and optionally (iii) a second
polymer different from the polyalkylene terephthalate-based polymer of (i) and optionally (iv) different from the polyalkylene terephthalate-based polymer of (i) and different from (iii) a third polymer that is the second polymer, the method comprising (a) providing a
colored polymeric material and a
solvent system comprising
gamma valerolactone (GVL); (b) contacting the colored polymeric material provided in (a) with the GVL-containing
solvent system provided in (a) under conditions that allow colorant removal but do not allow the polyalkylene terephthalate-based polymer to dissolve, thereby obtaining a
solvent system rich in colorants compared to the
solvent system provided and a polymeric material poor in colorants compared to the colored polymeric material provided in (a); (c) the
depolymerization or
transesterification of the colorant-depleted polymeric material obtained in (b); thereby obtaining a
monomer and / or
oligomer or
transesterification product. In a second aspect, the invention relates to monomers, oligomers or
transesterification products of polyalkylene terephthalate-based polymers obtained or obtainable by the process of the first aspect. A third aspect relates to a process comprising converting, preferably polymerizing, a
monomer,
oligomer or transesterification product of a polyalkylene terephthalate-based polymer obtained by the process of the first aspect to obtain one or more polymers or polymer products. A fourth aspect relates to a process comprising converting an isolated second polymer (iii) and / or an isolated third polymer (iv) obtainable by or obtained from the first aspect process to obtain one or more monomers, polymers or polymer products.