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

Recycling

Umweltmanagement

Normen / Standards

Recht allgemein / sonst.

Biokunststoffe

Kunststoff Werkstoffe

Kunststoff-Recycling

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Verfahren

Kunststoff-Aufbereitung

Kunststoff-Rezyklat

Reducing the CO2 Footprint

Electrical and electronics manufacturers want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from their products and optimize waste management and recycling for them. This can be achieved, among other ways, by using more sustainable thermoplastics and quality-assured recyclates. A close cooperation between companies to establish material cycles and the recycling-friendly design of equipment are also important.

16:9

Driving Sustainability Trends in the Electrical and Electronics Industry with Polymers

Elektronik

Technische Kunststoffe

Thermoplaste

Polycarbonat

Kreislaufwirtschaft

Support for a Greener E&E World

A growing number of companies and industrial sectors would like to use recyclates for their products. However, the application is frequently still confronted with considerable difficulties. And the extension of recycling to other fields and sectors also poses new questions. An overview of the current status and associated technical solutions was provided in conference “Forum Plastic Recyclates” at the end of March.

Conference Minutes of “Forum Plastic Recyclates”

Streifinger, Florian

Additive

Start into a Second Life for Plastics

Faerch and Erema realize closed loop for PET food packaging.

Verpackungsmittel aus Kunststoffen

Kunststoffverarbeitung

Verpackungsmaterial

Logistik

Polyethylenterephthalat

Verpackungstechnik

Closed the Loop for PET Trays

Strategic partnership delivers best practice example of a closed recycling loop for PET-based multilayer.

Best practice example of a closed recycling loop for PET-based multilayer.

Kunststoffe

Photonik

Optik

Closed Recycling Loop for PET-Based Multilayer

Mohinani is bringing PET bottle-to-bottle recycling to West Africa and is buying two Starlinger plants for this purpose.

The recoSTAR PET iV+ recycling lines produce food-grade rPET that can be used up to 100% in PET preform production.

Bottle-to-Bottle-Recycling in Ghana

The HolyGrail 2.0 Initiative aims to improve the sorting of plastic waste. But the method also has certain drawbacks. Here, luminescent pigments provide an alternative.

Marker masterbatches enable different information to be embedded in plastics. This can be used to improve the recycling circle.

Improved Sorting of Plastic Waste with Luminescent Pigments

Messtechnik

Additiv-Batches

Luminous Markers instead of Holy Grail

The IKV is researching digital solutions for better description and classification of recyclates. The aim is to increase the actual recyclate use rates. Results will be presented at the IKV colloquium in September.

PlasticBOND: Schematic illustration of the platform design to be developed.

Digitale Transformation

Wirtschaft

Innovationen und neue Technologie

Research to Improve Recyclate Use

IKV develops recyclable packaging solutions with the help of plasma technologies and presents the current state of research at the IKV colloquium in September.

Oberflächenbeschichtung

Holz

Recyclable Barrier Systems for Sustainable Packaging

Time to take stock: in what condition and with what agenda is the industry presenting itself after two-and-a-half years of a difficult climate? We have conducted a survey: insights into the dominant themes of the age.

Preview of K 2022: Kunststoffe Questionnaire on the Situation in Injection Molding Machine Construction

Spritzgießen

Steuerungen (Hardware und Software)

Automatisierungstechnik

Doriat, Clemens, Dr.

Messe K-Kunststoffmesse

kunststoffe-international.com

Steuern, Regeln

Nachhaltigkeit

Mess-, Steuer- und Regelgeräte

Qualitätssicherung

Qualitätssicherung Kunststoff

Energieeffizienz

Spritzgießmaschinen

Kunststoffverarbeitung: Maschinen und Komponenten

Harsh Realities

Interview with Korbinian Kiesl, President of Billion SAS

kunststoffe.de

“In difficult economic times, recycling is a reason to invest”

Both the quantity of recycled plastics waste and of processed recyclates is continually increasing. However, there are still difficulties with the quality of the recycled plastics, which are impeding replacement of virgin material. In recent years, machinery manufacturers and plastics producers have introduced various further developments that improve the properties of recyclates as well as eliminate unpleasant odors and contaminants.

Plastics recycling is a laborious process. For the recycled material to have the necessary quality, it must first be sorted into the different plastics

Overcoming Difficulties in Plastics Recycling

Extruder

Extrusionsanlagen

Trockner

Waschen und Entfetten

Trockner, Granulat-

Sortierer

Inspektion, Analyse und Sortierung von Rohmaterial

QualitÃ¤tssicherung

QualitÃ¤tssicherung Kunststoff

The Long Road to a Circular Economy

Sorting plays a crucial role in the processing of plastic waste. Systems based on artificial intelligence are one way of improving this. Sorting systems manufacturer Tomra has recently presented corresponding technologies. Kunststoffe spoke about this with Felix Flemming and Valerio Sama from Tomra. In the interview, they explain what progress can be made with it, how important digitalization is for this and what improvements it means for food packaging.

Interview on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Waste Sorting

Deep Learning

Datenanalyse

Machine Learning / Künstliche Intelligenz für die spanende Fertigung

Industrie 4.0

Industrie 4.0 für die spanende Fertigung

“AI Has Great Potential for  Sorting Food Packaging”

Over the last year, the German branch of the Association of Plastics Manufacturers, PlasticsEurope Deutschland, consistently advocated the technology of chemical recycling. Meanwhile, chemical recycling has not only been criticized by environmental organizations but also from parts of the industry. Kunststoffe interviewed Ingemar Bühler, CEO of the Association, about this criticism and the competition between mechanical and chemical recycling. In the interview, Bühler also addresses further requirements for a circular economy with plastics and explains why he considers a label for plastics products a sensible idea.

Interview with Ingemar Bühler from PlasticsEurope Deutschland

Schröder, Susanne

Verbände, Institutionen, Messen

Dienstleistungen

“There’s No Point in Arguing over Chemical versus Mechanical Recycling”

Texas-based Encina Announces $1.1 billion investment in new manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania.

Encina announced to invest USD 1.1 billion to build a new manufacturing facility in Point Township, Pennsylvania

Encina Announces USD 1.1 Billion Investment

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.

Public criticism of plastics targets packaging first and foremost. The pressure to produce more sustainable products is therefore especially high on packaging manufacturers. This is why the digitally organized 31st Dresden Packaging Conference (2nd and 3rd December 2021) hosted by the German Packaging Institute ,dvi, spotlighted sustainable packaging and the circular economy.

The lecture program focused mainly on recyclate availability. According to Dr. Joachim Christiani, CEO of the Cyclos-HTP certification institute, this is simply not given for practically all polymers in sufficient quantities. His lecture included an overview of the recycling status of each of the materials that are relevant for packaging. Accordingly, recycling capacities have to be radically expanded in almost all fields in order to conform to the terms of the recently amended German Packaging Act. However, the specifications of the market and brand-name producers, some of whom have set their own goals for the use of recyclates, would have a much stronger effect on the packaging branch.

Strong deficits are mainly the case, Christiani says, where flexible kinds of packaging are produced in great quantities. These include films, bags, or sacks. He states that the LDPE (low-density polyethylene) frequently used for them is a particular headache when it comes to recyclate quantities. Also difficult is the situation for trays and other packagings made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), except for the shining example of PET bottle recycling. The main reason for this is that such packagings have previously not been sufficiently designed to be recycled, for instance, in regard to the glues or labels used.

Due to the packaging law and producers’ requirements, quite a lot has been happening on the market, observes Christiani.

Recycling Companies Can also Support Design for Recycling

Until now, recycling companies were mainly investing in equipment for recyclates in great demand and for easily recyclable plastics. Meanwhile, more and more facilities are being constructed for hard-to-recycle materials, such as wastes from mixed polyolefins (MPO), for flexible polypropylene (PP), and for PE films. The recycling quotas, Christiani continued, have led to a partial decoupling of the price for compounded plastics. Until now, they followed the prices of new material and were usually somewhat lower. With the obligation to employ specific percentages of recycled materials, this is changing. It is especially the case of polymers that were being recycled in great quantities, he concluded.

To increase the available recyclate quantities all those involved have to get in motion, in Christiani’s opinion. This includes the packaging manufacturers, final consumers, sorters, and the recycling companies as well. The latter should retrofit their facilities to provide manufacturers more freedom to design for recycling.

The current scarcity of recycled polymers was also confirmed by Christian Schiller, CEO of Cirplus, an online marketplace for recyclates. For every ten suppliers active on the platform, eight are sold out up to three months in advance or even longer. “At the moment, you can sell just about any recyclate,” Schiller summarized. That also leads to clearly higher price increases on the market. This is most clearly the case for recycled PET (rPET). Since January 2021, prices have increased by 74 % on the average, he reports. The 66 % increase for rLDPE and 64 % for rPP turned out somewhat lower, but were still considerable.

Michael Düsener, in charge of purchasing at plant supplies manufacturer Compos, offered insight into the procurement practices for recyclates. In many of their packagings, such as bottles for liquid fertilizer and sacks for potting soil, the company employs up to 90 % recyclate content. Düsener also confirmed the difficult situation regarding availability. At the moment there are still sufficient supplies available at acceptable prices, but he also fears that the situation will continue to worsen. That is due, among other things, to increasing competition from other branches. “The market is just too small,” as he succinctly summarized. Mainly for LDPE and HDPE (high density PE), Düsener reckons with a difficult supply situation. On the other hand, PP availability can be expected to improve.

Düsener also expounded on the quality of available recyclates. Top quality is currently available for PP he says, and quite good for HDPE.

 But the LDPE situation is tough. Its processing requirements are very stiff, and the availability of the quality they require is limited. It comes mainly from special collections, he points out, and not from collected household waste. In the next year or two, however, he believes the quality of LDPE recyclates will improve at least to a sufficient degree.

Retail Groups Are Aggravating  the Situation

From chemical recycling, Düsener is not expecting any rapid progress. Its possibilities for food packaging in particular are quite promising. However, until now the systems have been, with very few exceptions, limited to laboratory-scale. Since most of the waste disposal and recycling industry has invested in mechanical recycling, he does not reckon with a rapid upscaling of capacities.

The situation in the recyclate market could also worsen, he surmises, because large retail groups are increasingly buying up disposal and recycling companies. They thereby secure the required quantity of raw materials for themselves. However, that means less recyclates available on the market. For companies that lack the necessary capital to own their own recycling companies, as Düsener points out, that could cause problems in the future.

Deutsches Verpackungsinstitut e.V. (dvi)  

https://www.verpackung.org

Ausgabenartikel

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

KU 2-22_Verpackungstage - Hauptartikel

Additional information about the Packaging Conference on the event’s website: www.verpackung.org/events/digitale-verpackungstage

issue 07/2022

issue 06/2022

issue 05/2022

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