Amazon is looking for early-stage start-ups with a focus on recycling: the second Amazon Sustainability Accelerator is starting, and European companies can still apply until March 17.

Amazon Sustainability Accelerator 2023: the deadline for applications is 17 March 2023 and successful applicants will be announced in the Spring.

16:9

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Start up

Wirtschaft

Unternehmen und Unternehmer

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Amazon Looks for Innovative Recycling-Start-ups

DePoly develops low-energy and selective chemical recycling technologies for polyester waste streams.

BASF Invests in Swiss Start-up

Christian Schiller’s goal is to turn the phrase “plastic waste is recyclable material” into reality. His tool of choice: digitalization.

Digitale Transformation

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Ehrhardt, Melanie

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

“We See Our Work as Basic  Digitalization“

You‘re spoiled for choice. This also applies when you’re seeking out a suitable recyclate. As a start-up, Plastship supports companies in this venture, aided by digitalization along the way.

Konstantin Humm (left) and Andreas Bastian (right) founded the start-up four years ago and now serve over 800 customers.

Kreislaufwirtschaft

„We Want to Simplify the Use  of Recyclates“

New Plastic Heroes: The start-up ForPET worked with industry partners to develop a technology for the production of foamed rPET.

Sergey Nikitenko (in the photo) founded the start-up in 2021 with Mikhail Iakobachvili and Dmitrii Rastorguev. 

ForPET worked with industry partners to develop a technology for the production of foamed rPET.

New Plastic Heroes: ForPET

Polyethylenterephthalat

Thermoplaste

Verpackungstechnik

Recycling: Foaming instead  of Dreaming

A Danish manufacturer of wind turbines has found a way to completely recycle the turbines‘ rotor blades.

A new process should make it possible to completely recycle wind turbine rotor blades in the future.

Verbundwerkstoffe / Werkstoffverbunde

New Technology Disassembles Rotor Blades

Looper Textile Co.intends to collect, sort and sell used and unwanted garments and textiles and thereby extend the highest use of these valuable resources.

The waste management company Remondis and the Swedish fashion retailer H&M are pulling together to recycle clothes.

Fasern

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

Kunststofffasern

Verstärkungsstoffe

H&M and Remondis Create Joint Venture

LyondellBasell and Nexus Circular sign long-term supply agreement. Nexus will supply LyondellBasell with 24,000 tons of recycled feedstock per year.

Bales of waste plastic film ready to be processed.

LyondellBasell Secures Recycled Feedstock from Nexus Circular

Südpack sees it as its responsibility to contribute towards the circular economy and aims to develop into a zero-waste company.

Sustainability can have many faces: mechanical and chemical recycling, design for recycling, reduction of the CO2 footprint, etc.

Recyclable Materials Management Is the Way to the Goal

Verpackungsmittel aus Kunststoffen

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Logistik

Zero Waste – Utopia or Reality?

Dr. Norbert Niessner “Recycling of Plastics”: An in-depth guide to the very latest global plastics recycling insights.

Dr. Norbert Niessner: .“The problem isn‘t plastics, but collection systems and recycling initiatives that are not fit for purpose.“

All Your Questions Answered

Tomra opened a second test facility at its headquarters in Germany to meet growing demand for material trials.

F.l.t.r.: Volker Rehrmann (EVP and Head of Tomra Recycling), Fabrizio Radice (VP and Head of Global Sales and Marketing), Tove Andersen (CEO), Tom Eng (SVP and Head of Tomra Recycling Sorting), André Lehmann (Test Center Manager)

Unternehmen

kunststoffe.de

Tomra Expands Capacities in Germany

The winners of the seven awards will be announced on 11 May, the second day of the Plastics Recycling Show Europe at the RAI Amsterdam, where all 47 finalists will be showcased.

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Dienstleistungen

Finalists Announced for Plastics Recycling Awards Europe 2023

Each year, more than one million tons of plastic waste are generated in Kenya – so far unused. T3 wants to change this and invests in a bottle-to-bottle recycling plant from Starlinger.

Around 1,334,000 tons of plastic become waste in Kenya each year.

Starlinger Installs First Plant in Kenya

Demand for recyclates is still rising, and many processors are therefore relying on their own recycling processes. Zeppelin supports them.

Material handling: the right conveying method is also crucial for product quality.

Zeppelin Systems Supports the Industrialization of Recycling Processes

Designed for the Specific Application

The goal of the processing runs is to further increase the company’s understanding of how different types of waste plastics behave during chemical recycling in the refinery processes.

Tanks at the refinery in Porvoo, Finland.

Neste Completed Second Series of Runs at Its Porvoo Refinery

“Recycling Is More than a  Trendy Topic“

HolyPoly is a watchword for fascination at the changeable nature of plastic material. But top of mind for the Dresden start-up are products at the end of their service life. The objective: to establish more and – above all – high-quality products from recycled plastics on the market.

Recycling as a business model: the start-up HolyPoly wants to bring more high-quality products made from recycled plastic onto the market.

Theoretically, plastic recycling sounds simple: making new products from used. Ideally, what this would elicit is a closed loop – as in the well-known PET bottle example. In practice, however, a number of hurdles may complicate what initially appears to be a simple project. The Dresden start-up HolyPoly wants to help brand manufacturers get over this hurdle. Their vision: a world in which recycling is second nature. Kunststoffe spoke with the two managing directors, Joanna Bialek and Fridolin Pflüger, as part of the series New Plastic Heroes. In this interview, they discuss the company‘s goals, the challenges of recycling plastics and the risks of greenwashing.

Kunststoffe: Why does plastic recycling remain so difficult, despite modern technologies?

Fridolin Pflüger: Ultimately, it boils down to three factors: the available quantity of high-quality recyclates, consistency in the material and, of course, the price. Manufacturers have been used to getting their material in exactly the same quality and quantity every time for decades, and specifications have become increasingly narrow. Unfortunately, the confusion of the circular economy has made it increasingly difficult to maintain this approach. Used plastics show signs of their usage journey, as color and other properties differ from the usual norms. Moreover, post-consumer alternatives are usually costlier than virgin materials.

Kunststoffe: How can this be changed – also using HolyPoly?

Pflüger: Conversely, we mitigate the quantity limitations by leveraging our deep insights into the secondary plastics market, right into sources that are not readily accessible. This helps us extend our reach far beyond the usual distributors or well-known recyclers or compounders. Over and above their types, we look at many more, which helps consolidate our status as a go-to contact in the fragmented European market for recyclates.

Kunststoffe: And despite this, valuable resources go missing daily in the form of plastic waste.

Pflüger: As well as flying in the face of sustainability, this is also inefficient from an economic perspective. And that‘s why we directly address unused material flows by setting up and operating take-back systems and recycling programs. The next step involves us developing our own formulations and compounding specifications that modify the material for the desired application and compensate for input fluctuations. The crucial part is what comes next, namely: circular product development. Reflecting the primary goal of design, layout and manufacturing with the circular economy.

Kunststoffe: You specifically address brand manufacturers – why?

Johanna Bialek: If brands showing a clear attitude use recycled material or initiate their own recycling programs, the industry as a whole will also come on board. Brands dictate what is produced and how, and thus also what will later become waste. That‘s why we‘re targeting them and empowering them to really change course. The cultural aspect is also impossible to ignore here. Brands also indirectly convey values through their products. This allows them to promote a lifestyle and recycling and thus make it part of everyday life.

Kunststoffe: But as research shows, this constitutes greenwashing more often than not. From your perspective: How big is the problem?

Bialek: At this point, you have to look behind the words of what the companies really promise. As far as know, deliberate falsehoods about the use of recycled materials are very rare. Instead, the topic of recyclability often emerges, which many already understand as “recycled“. Real recycling also only works if waste ends up in an appropriate infrastructure; unfortunately, this is almost never considered.

Kunststoffe: When do things get trickiest?

Bialek: Many companies look for the easy option, when advertising with the term recycling, but with few substantive changes to their economic and production approaches. Given a post-consumer substitution rate of under 10 percent in Germany according to the latest Conversio study, much remains to be done. And that is actually problematic: People are over-promising and under-delivering when it comes to really fulfilling these commitments.

Kunststoffe: So it‘s all a matter of calculation?

Pflüger: It’s a gray area. We also have to accept that certain aspects of sustainability are contradictory and we have to maintain our stance as a thought leader on this without overburdening consumers with details. Many companies still lack any experience with communication around recycling and sustainability in their marketing departments. Experience shows that false statements are often made inadvertently, due to a lack of expertise and care.

Pflüger: A Green Claiming Regulation is currently being negotiated on a European level. This could then prohibit scope to make general environmental claims in advertising and marketing, for example, unless there is tangible evidence of excellent environmental performance on the part of the product or company. For us, regulations like these constitute an important signal in the sense of an emergency brake.

Kunststoffe: This may hinder greenwashing, but probably not rule it out entirely.

Pflüger: Correct! Simply changing a few rules or imposing a few bans is insufficient. There is a need for market conditions that incentivize circular value creation and the positive climate impact in general. If all players who are actually serious about sustainability were given a clear competitive advantage and those who only pretend to be so were disadvantaged, greenwashing would simply no longer be worthwhile.

Kunststoffe: Finally: we are currently experiencing a real recycling boom. What will remain of it in the long term?

Pflüger: We are delighted at the growing interest in plastics recycling and the fact that more and more manufacturers also want to become active themselves. But it is more than just a trendy topic. Key now is to build on this momentum to establish a roadmap for sustainable and effective change. However nice the boom may feel – with the substitution rates in mind, we know the road to a circular economy remains very long and rocky. We need to transform the entire metabolism of industrial society. We have no other choice: hype that spawns lasting success.

HolyPoly GmbH  

https://www.holypoly.co

Ausgabenartikel

Johanna Bialek, co-foundeer of the start-up and head of human resources and organizational development , and Fridolin Pflüger, founding member.

Johanna Bialek co-founded the start-up and is head of human resources and organizational development 

Founding member Fridolin Pflüger is in charge of sales.

HolyPoly - Hauptartikel

HolyPoly: Start-up Turns Recycling into a Business Model

<ul><li>Name: HolyPoly GmbH</li><li>Founded: 2020 in Dresden, Germany</li><li>Total customers: 28</li><li>Number of employees: 25</li><li>Homepage:<a href="https://www.holypoly.co/en" target="_blank">www.holypoly.co</a></li></ul>

article in our magazine Kunststoffe or at

<a href="https://www.kunststoffe.de/a/interview/recycling-ist-mehr-als-ein-trendthema-3360232" target="_blank">www.kunststoff.de</a>

issue 08/2023

issue 07/2023

issue 06/2023

Contact

Journal

Media Data

Subscriptions

Subscription

Subscription Cancellation

My Login

Imprint

Terms & Conditions

Terms and Conditions

Privacy Policy

News

Mobility

Packaging

Medical

Electrical/Electronics

Plastics Recycling

Lightweight Construction

Applications

Standard Thermoplastics

Engineering Plastics

High-Performance Plastics

Elastomers

Thermosets

Additives/Masterbatches

Bioplastics

Composites

Materials

Injection Molding

Extrusion

Additive Manufacturing

Further Processing Methods

Compounding

Composite Processing

Peripheral Equipment

Simulation

Processing

Research & Development

Dissertations

Patents

Journal of Plastics Technology

Country Special Italy

Italy

Country Specials

Career at HANSER

HANSER Fachbuch

HANSER eLibrary

HANSER eSolutions

HANSER eCampus

HANSER Corporate

HANSER Literaturverlage

Publisher offers

Kunststoffe

FORM+Werkzeug

HANSER automotive

QZ Qualität und Zuverlässigkeit

WB Werkstatt + Betrieb

More Technical Portals

Online Archive

Newsletter

Publisher

Zu Kunststoffe wechseln

Service Menu

linkedin

Products

Partners & Associations

Organ

Business Directory

Plastics Discovery Tour

Fakuma

Multi-User License

FACHARTIKEL_2023, FACHARTIKEL_2022, FACHARTIKEL_2021, FACHARTIKEL_2020, FACHARTIKEL_2019, FACHARTIKEL_2018, INTERVIEWARTIKEL_2023, INTERVIEWARTIKEL_2022, INTERVIEWARTIKEL_2021, INTERVIEWARTIKEL_2020, INTERVIEWARTIKEL_2019

kuint

You already have a subscription? Simply <hanser-login-link>log in/register</hanser-login-link> and continue reading!

Hanser Customer Center

Prices include VAT, plus possibly shipping costs

Practice-oriented technical information from the comfort of your home

Just <hanser-login-link>log in/register</hanser-login-link> here and continue reading!

You want to read more? To continue reading this content please log in or register for the Hanser Customer Center.