Statutory recyclate quotas and the specifications of brand-name producers are weighing heavily on the packaging branch these days and turning recyclate availability into a hot issue. Some polymers are simply not available in sufficient amounts. Experts at the 31st Dresden Packaging Conference provided insights into the current situations and explained why the situation could worsen in the future.

Recyclates of many polymer types are hard to get right now.

16:9

Verpackungsmaterial

Logistik

Streifinger, Florian

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Kreislaufwirtschaft

Hard-to-Find Recylates

For a long time, chemical recycling was considered an unfinished addition to established material processes. In the meantime, however, some technologies are making the leap into large-scale industrial use: an overview of the various processes and providers.

Overview of the Various Processes and Suppliers

Polypropylen

Thermoplaste

Polyurethan

Kunststoff

Bauwesen

Baustoffe

What Is Happening in Chemical Recycling?

The non fossil fuel-based portfolio offers same high quality and performance for applications in all industries.

The Bornewables portfolio is suitable for the production of the most demanding applications, including hygiene and food-contact

Gehäuse aus Kunststoff

Elektromechanik

Kühlkörper

Polyethylen

Polystyrol

Standardkunststoffe

Kunststoff-Regenerate

Kunststofffasern

Verstärkungsstoffe

Borealis Launches Portfolio of Circular Polyolefins

In this interview with Kunststoffe, Alfred Stern, CEO of Borealis, explains why he considers fixed recycling quotas to be necessary and why voluntary commitments do not work.

Together with Tomra and Zimmermann Recycling, Borealis has built a demonstration plant in Lahnstein. According to its own information, the most modern plant for mechanical recycling is intended to show what is possible with modern technology and equipment in a state-of-the-art plant for mechanical recycling

Alfred Stern, CEO of Borealis, Talks about the Circular Economy

Schröder, Susanne

“Unfortunately, the Only Globally Accepted Ideology Is Money”

The circular economy, electromobility and the continuing corona pandemic are influencing color selection for plastics. Kunststoffe asked colorant manufacturers about the resulting color trends. We also wanted to know what effects the increased use of recyclates is having and the extent to which manufacturers are affected by the present supply bottlenecks.

Trend Report on the Coloration of Plastics

Masterbatches

Additive

Farbstoffe und Pigmente

Farbkonzentrate (Batches)

Farbstoffe

Farben, flüssig

Colored Mood Enhancers

The plastics industry has a variety of materials and technologies available for significantly reducing the ecological footprint of products. There are very few applications for which it is not possible to replace at least a portion of the fossil material with recyclates or bioplastics. Various methods, standards and software tools are available to determine what savings this can achieve.

Determining CO2 Savings from Recycled Materials and Bioplastics

Simulation

Software

Normen / Standards

Recht allgemein / sonst.

Biokunststoffe

Reducing the CO2 Footprint

Styrenics Circular Solutions (SCS), the value chain initiative to increase the circularity of styrenic polymers, today announced that CEDAP, Compagnie Européenne Des Applications Plastiques, joins the organisation.

SCS develops solutions to combine the benefits of polystyrene in Form, Fill and Seal (FFS) dairy packaging with circularity

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Dienstleistungen

ABS / ASA-Kunststoffe

Polystyrol-Platten

Halbzeuge und Zwischenprodukte

Kunststoff-Halbzeuge

Polypropylen-Compound

Kunststoffhandel

Handel

Hochleistungskunststoffe

CEDAPJoins Styrenics Circular Solution

Higher mechanical properties with lower density make polypropylene an interesting alternative to polyethylene for a large number of applications. New catalysts and production processes offer a wider range of products. Monolayer films and recycling are under development. In the meantime, China consumes almost one-third of the PP produced worldwide.

The ReOil pilot plant at OMV AG in Schwechat, Austria, converts plastic wastes with poor recycling properties into cracker raw material, and hence into potential monomers

Growth through Sustainability and Technical Specialization

Polypropylen-Platten

Polypropylene (PP)

Henkel significantly expands partnership with social enterprise Plastic Bank. The partners opened their first three plastic waste collection centers in Cairo

Henkel and Plastic Bank opened the first three collection centers in Cairo

Polyethylenterephthalat

Henkel and Plastic Bank Open First Collection Centers in Egypt

A new chemical recycling unit at Borealis production site in Stenungsund, Sweden, is expected to commence operations in 2024.

Aerial view of Borealis production location in Stenungsund, Sweden

More Circular Base Chemicals and Plastic Products

A new process developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP is able to isolate carbon black ash recovered from old tires – allowing both the carbon black and the minerals from the ash to be reused.

Top, primary product from left to right: raw rCB, clean rCB (96+), pearlized clean rCB (96+). Bottom, secondary products recovered from the ash, from left to right: liquid sodium silicate or “water glass”, precipitated SiO2, precipitated ZnSO4

Pigmente

Technik Trend

kunststoffe-international.com

Carbon Black Recycled from Car Tires

From April 13 – 16, 2021 Hanser launches international virtual trade fair D-Expo Circular Economy for professionals with a focus on sustainability, recycling, eco-design, life-cycle, and more.

D-EXPO Circular Economy will take place as a digital event from April 13 to 16, 2021

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Nachhaltigkeit

Regenerieren

Digital Trade Fair for Plastics Sustainability

In the midterm, a worldwide increase in PU consumption of 4 to 5 % per year is to be expected. Growth drivers are the sound economic performance in the major industrialized nations so far, and in particular the increasing prosperity in China and emerging markets. In future, the PU business will be strongly influenced by digitalization and the development of closed material life cycles.

In China, for the first time, PU resin is becoming commercial for the production of glass fiber-reinforced wind rotor blades

The Global PU Sales Reached a New Record in 2018 with just over 20 Million Tons

Schaumstoffe und Vorprodukte

Schaumstoffe

Polyurethan-Schaumstoffe (PUR)

Polyurethane (PU)

LyondellBasell starts commercial production of polymers using raw material derived from plastic waste at its Wesseling site.

The chemical company starts commercial production of polymers using raw material derived from plastic waste at Wesseling

Polymers Made from Plastic Waste

Initial testing of the material at the Ineos Styrolution laboratory did not show any measurable differences to native material.

EU life project ABSolutely Circular: Indaver and Ineos Styrolution announced production of first ABS with recycled styrene

ABS with Recycled Styrene

Expanded Polypropylene from Maritime Plastic Waste

A large part of the plastic waste in the sea comes from the maritime industry. The Danish company Plastix recycles old fishing nets and ropes. The granules produced are used by JSP International, among others, to manufacture expanded polypropylene (EPP). This results in a 7 % reduction in CO2 emissions compared to virgin material. In order to obtain the same properties as virgin material, the recyclates must meet strict requirements. This requires a precise analysis of the waste in the recycling process and strict quality control.

The Danish company Plastix recycles old fishing nets and ropes. The granules produced are used by JSP International, among others, to manufacture expanded polypropylene (EPP).

The fight against climate change and mismanagement in waste management are high on the global political agenda. Since the demand for plastics continues to grow in view of their advantages in many areas of application, plastic waste plays a major role in this.

However, the processing of this waste has not kept pace with the growing demand. Since 1950, some 8.3 billion t of plastics has been produced worldwide. Half of this in the last 13 years alone [1]. This corresponds to approx. 400 million t of CO2 emissions per year [2].

Plastic waste is mainly disposed of by landfill and incineration. Both types have significant negative impacts on climate, wildlife and human health. The establishment of a functioning closed-loop economy and the recycling of plastic waste into high-quality, reprocessed raw materials have therefore become global megatrends. The governments of various countries and international organizations such as the EU and the United Nations are addressing the waste problem, for example, through political and organizational commitments aimed at greater climate protection and responsible consumption of raw materials. Both have been incorporated into the United Nations’ goals for sustainable development [3].

In the maritime industry, the aim is to extend the useful life of plastics through reuse and recycling and to establish a closed loop economy for the plastics used. Millions of tons of plastics are already in the world’s oceans. According to UNO and WWF, 15 t are added every minute. 11 % of this plastic waste comes from the maritime industry in the form of fishing nets and trawls, ropes and boxes [3]. It is therefore obvious that the maritime industry has an important role to play in preventing further pollution of the oceans.

This is also relevant for companies from an economic perspective. Due to the increasing Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), in which producers are financially responsible for the waste management and recycling of their end-of-life products, companies have to deal with this issue more intensively [4]. Recently, several legislative initiatives have been introduced targeting the maritime industry, in particular a comprehensive European Union EPR, which will come into force in 2024.

The increased focus on effective waste management, EPR regulations and stricter legislation has significantly increased the availability of recoverable waste and recyclates and has led to increased cooperation between recycling companies and plastics producers. One such cooperation exists between the Danish recycler Plastix, Lemvig, and JSP International, Estrées-Saint-Denis, France. Among other things, Plastix recycles fishing nets and ropes that would otherwise end up in landfills or in the sea. The company was one of the first 13 companies in the world to participate in the United Nations Accelerator Program for Sustainable Development goals.

Plastix purchases its plastic waste from ports, netmakers and plastic waste disposal companies worldwide. The in-house laboratory analyses, evaluates and records the recyclability of all incoming input waste streams based on their physical and chemical properties. Plastix currently has over 900 different types of ropes and nets registered in its extensive database (Fig. 1). In the mechanical recycling process used, the input raw material strongly influences the consistency of the output material. Therefore, the company attaches great importance to the quality and homogeneity of the nets and ropes entering the recycling process.

Based on their physical, chemical and visual properties, the incoming nets and ropes are roughly sorted by material type and color and finely fractionated upon arrival at the factory. Non-recyclable materials are removed in the process. Sorting, fractionating and homogenizing the input material can be a labor-intensive step, as recyclability is currently not a major concern for either the manufacturers or the users of fishing gear. Plastix fishing gear recycling technology has been developed by combining tailor-made processing with adapted standard equipment to convert separated material into quality granulate for thermoplastic processing (Fig. 2).

After sorting and fractionating, the nets and ropes are shredded, washed, separated and dried. Finally, Plastix compounds and extrudes the processed input into new plastic granulate with constant and quality controlled physical, chemical and mechanical properties. All recyclates are analyzed, quality controlled, registered in the Plastix database and their properties are described in a specific data sheet (Fig. 3). This is a prerequisite for guaranteeing high quality recycled plastics. Plastix is certified for the recycling of used fishing nets and ropes from the maritime industry according to the ISO9001:2015 and ISO14.001:2015 standards for quality and environmental management.

The “green” plastic granules produced serve as raw material for a wide range of applications throughout the plastics industry. For example, OceanIX, a recycled product called rHDPE (recycled high density polyethylene) or rPPC (recycled polypropylene copolymer), is already being used for applications such as cell phone covers, designer outdoor furniture and kayaks. According to the company’s product life cycle analysis (LCA), 1000 kg of OceanIX will avoid up to 1650 kg of CO2 emissions if used instead of virgin material.

JSP and Plastix joined forces in 2018 under the leadership of a Scandinavian initiative to investigate the possible use of recyclates from maritime industry waste for expanded polypropylene (EPP). The investigations led to the development of compatible grades, suitable process parameters for processing and analyses for quality assurance. With Arpro 35 Ocean a corresponding EPP was presented in March 2020. Arpro 35 Ocean is the first EPP with 15 % recycled content from maritime industrial waste and has a 7 % reduced CO2 footprint compared to virgin material.

JSP’s stringent recycled material requirements are key to ensuring material and processing properties areas close as possible to those of virgin material. Recent trials with different recycled material contents have shown that 15 % is the optimum percentage. The addition of more than 15 % recycled content from marine industrial waste slows down the extrusion process, thereby increasing production costs. This is due to the extended melting temperature range of the recyclate due to the different material properties of the processed fishing gear and ropes. A recycled content of 15 % currently represents the optimal ratio between recycled and virgin material to ensure certified material properties guaranteed by the manufacturer. The particle foam thus also meets the requirements for technical lightweight construction applications.

In the development of Arpro 35 Ocean, the focus was on meeting the technical requirements and conformity with the mechanical and thermal properties of virgin material. This is particularly important when used for technical, dimensionally accurate molded parts to ensure function and accuracy of fit. The particle foam is already being tested by various manufacturers and used in their products. Suppliers to the cargo bicycle manufacturer Urban Arrow, Amsterdam, Netherlands, used it to make a transport box for cargo bikes. The foamed Shorty EPP box produced for a feasibility study (Fig. 4) is made completely from Arpro 35 Ocean.

Other companies use EPP in commercially available consumer products, such as Juuce, Munich, Germany. The “stuul” produced by this company consists of two identical step stools which can be inserted into each other. This two-part design saves space in the bathroom and is very unobtrusive. The stuul was awarded the Universal Design Consumer Award 2019, the Good Design Award 2019 and the IDA Design Award 2019 [5]. Turkish company Atermit is bringing Arpro 35 Ocean back into the water in the form of a buoyancy aid for athletes [6].

The Finnish company Artekno from Kangasala also uses the particle foam for standard 6.2 and 15 liter thermo boxes. They are lightweight, mechanically resistant and heat-insulating. Such sustainable products are in demand in the currently booming food delivery market [7].

1 Geyer, R., Jambeck, J. and Law, K., 2017. Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Science Advances, 3(7), p.e1700782.

2 <a href="https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20181212STO21610/plastic-waste-and-recycling-in-the-eu-facts-and-figures" target="_blank">https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20181212STO21610/plastic-waste-and-recycling-in-the-eu-facts-and-figures</a>

3 <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals" target="_blank">https://sdgs.un.org/goals</a>

4 <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/waste/eu_guidance/pdf/report.pdf" target="_blank">https://ec.europa.eu/environment/archives/waste/eu_guidance/pdf/report.pdf</a>

5 <a href="https://stuul.com/collections/ocean/products/stuul-ocean" target="_blank">https://stuul.com/collections/ocean/products/stuul-ocean</a>

6 <a href="https://actifoamsports.com/?lang=en" target="_blank">https://actifoamsports.com/?lang=en</a>

7 <a href="https://www.artekno.fi/en/news/artekno-ocean-cleaner-oceans" target="_blank">https://www.artekno.fi/en/news/artekno-ocean-cleaner-oceans</a>

Ausgabenartikel

Fig. 1. Over 900 different types of nets and ropes are stored in the Plastix database. The “Wall of Fame” of the company shows an extract

Fig. 2. Mechanical recycling turns the maritime waste back into high-quality plastic granulate

Fig. 3. Before delivery, the recyclates are analyzed and subjected to quality control

Fig. 4. Feasibility study for the Urban Arrow Shorty cargo bicycle: the transport container was made entirely from Arpro 35 Ocean particle foam

11 % of the plastic waste in the sea comes from the maritime industry. For the recycling of old fishing nets and ropes, accurate sorting is very important

JSP - Hauptartikel

Hans Axel Kristensen is CEO and Co-Founder of Plastix; <a href="mailto:fenella@plastixglobal.com">fenella@plastixglobal.com</a>

Jens Grunwald works as Sustainability Product Manager at JSP EMEA; <a href="mailto:jens.grunwald@jsp.com">jens.grunwald@jsp.com</a>

Helge Lüsebrink is Director Sales & Marketing at JSP EMEA; <a href="mailto:helge.luesebrink@jsp.com">helge.luesebrink@jsp.com</a>