Certifications and product quality
What is held, what is in progress and what has not been started. Nothing on this page is asserted beyond what is documented.
Ocean Bound Plastic Certification
Held
Zero Plastic Oceans standard, audited by Control Union. The group markets certified material.
- Waste abandoned within a maximum of 50 km from the coast, or in river environments where waste management is non-existent or insufficient
- Traceable end-to-end chain of custody from collection point to converter
- Annual third-party audit
Product quality
Flake is sold in three grades, split 60 % grade A, 30 % grade B and 10 % grade C. The grade A purity specification is below.
Grade A specification
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Metals | below 10 ppm |
| Polyolefins | below 30 ppm |
| PVC | below 50 ppm |
| Labels | below 500 ppm |
| Fines | below 0.5 % |
| Moisture | below 1.5 % |
| Bulk density | approximately 420 kg/m3 |
| Maximum flake size | max 12 mm |
A 60% · B 30% · C 10%
Why PVC is the critical variable
PVC degrades during PET extrusion, releasing hydrochloric acid that yellows and embrittles the polymer. A few hundred ppm are enough to make a lot unusable for the highest-paying applications, so it is controlled in four successive stages.
- 01Manual sorting of whole bottles at intake
- 02Label removal and discarding
- 03Optical bottle sorter
- 04Optical flake sorter
The Sesotec bottle and flake sorters are the only units of their kind in Venezuela.
Packaging and traceability
- Big bags of approximately 1,100 kg or 550 kg net
- ISPM certified pallets
- Approximately 22 MT per 40 ft high cube container
- Documented quality assurance procedures with traceability by point of origin
1,100 / 550 kg · 22 MT / 40' HC
Food-grade restriction
European regulation restricts the permitted origin of PET bottle feedstock for food-contact applications, a criterion the United States does not apply. Current lots therefore access the full range of United States food-contact and fibre markets, and European fibre, strapping and sheet markets.
The expansion route into European food-contact markets runs through an approved decontamination process combined with documented feedstock origin, which is where the Vacurema Prime line and the existing chain of custody are relevant.
Declared gaps
The following are not held and not currently in progress. They are listed because they are the logical next requests from a European converter.
- EFSA-assessed recycling process for food-contact rPET
- Recyclass or equivalent recycled-content traceability certification
- ISO 9001 quality management certification
- ISO 14001 environmental management certification
- Own life cycle assessment with Venezuelan grid and self-generation factors