1 POST-CONSUMER POLY(ETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE) IN COMPOSITES AND BLENDS FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS M.B. Coltelli, 1,2 S. Bianchi, 1 S. Savi, 1 F. Signorini, 1 A. Manariti, 1 C. Bruni, 3 F. Ciardelli, 1 V Castelvetro 1, * 1 Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, University of Pisa, Via Risorgimento 35, 56126 Pisa, Italy (* vetro@dcci.unipi.it ) 2 Centro Italiano Packaging, Via delle Industrie 25/8, 30175 Marghera, Italy. 3 SPIN-PET s.r.l. SUMMARY The possibility of employing materials based on post-consumer PET for injection moulded external and internal body parts in automotive and other applications requires passing mechanical properties, processability, weather resistance, surface stability. Different strategies pursued in our laboratory to improve the properties and broaden the application range of r-PET are shortly reviewed. Keywords: PET, toughness; flame resistance, reactive processing, polymer blends INTRODUCTION Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is extensively used for the production of fibers, films, and bottles for water and other beverages (especially carbonated drinks) as well as containers for other edible products because of its combination of unique physical, mechanical, and permeability properties, as well as processability. As an engineering thermoplastic material it offers, among others, excellent high-temperature mechanical performance, creep behaviour, and solvent resistance. Besides, the case of PET is particularly fortunate because it is easily separable from other urban waste, usually through mechanical sorting processes assisted by optical sensor and/or by flotation fractionation. This allows an economically viable recovery when properly complemented by the education of citizens and regulation. In Italy the selective collection of post-consumer plastics is essentially limited to packaging materials, dominated by polyethylene and PET. In particular, the PET main stream comes from post-consumer beverage bottles. Although the reclaiming of PET as flakes with an adequate purity for mechanical recycling requires a complex multi-step treatment (washing, grinding, flotation, etc.), the final product – PET flakes - shows only slightly downgraded properties with respect to those of virgin PET, but at a decidedly lower cost. This, together with increasing environmental pressure and demanding regulations, is pushing industry towards its reuse. However, the success of PET recycling depends on the possibility of developing strategies leading to materials and products with high technical value.