Thermoformed packaging such as blister packs and clamshells typically end up in landfills, even though many of are made of PC PET, the usually recycled material that is blow molded into soft drink and water bottles. That’s a problem for manufacturers concerned about sustainability and product packaging. And the economics of recycling will probably prevent widespread recycling of thermoform-grade RPET for some time. (The “R” of RPET means the polymer comprises virgin material plus regrind, or recycled content.) In a pilot study conducted by thermoform-packaging maker Dordan Manufacturing in Woodstock, Ill., the company shipped 50 of its RPET clamshells to a local recycling facility to determine how well the containers could be sorted. The waste-management facility uses optics to sort different kinds of polymers. “The equipment could not distinguish the difference between PET bottles and RPET thermoforms,” saysDordan Manufacturing’s Sustainability Coordinator Chandler Slavin. Theoretically, the two could be recycled together, but that depends on a lot of factors, many of which are a result of the sorting equipment used. In manual sorting, there are problems because clamshells and blisters come in all shapes, sizes, and materials, making it difficult to train workers to sort packages by material type via visual cues in package design. Most clear, thin-neck screw-top beverage bottles are PET, for example, making it easy to identify this recyclable from those destined for landfills, says Slavin.