PLASTICS RECYCLING
THE PLASTICS INDUSTRY IS CHANGING BECAUSE IT HAS TO IN EUROPE, THE SHIFT FROM LARGE-SCALE MECHANICAL MODELS FOR EOL PLASTIC TO SMALLER-SCALE, LOCALIZED CHEMICAL RECYCLING IS WELL UNDER WAY
W
hile plastic, in its myriad forms is ingrained in every aspect of our life, “plastiphobia” has entered the vernacular as a condition, and regulators around the world are cracking down hard on an industry that already faces a number of complex challenges.
BY WILL RANKIN
MRF equipment priced to sell! 15 tons per hour
2013 cp in great working condition!
For more details contact dave vaccarezza (209) 843-1811
mrfequipment@cal-waste.com
48 Recycling Product News March 2020
But plastiphobia shouldn’t be a thing at all. Plastic should not be demonized, rather it should be treated like the crux of modern living that it actually is. The problem is not with plastic per se, but with the recycling of plastic and its inappropriate usage. The plastics industry has become acutely self-aware, and some might even say introspective. Directive targets must be met, new processes researched, developed and launched, consumer education delivered and consumer expectations met. Looming over all of this is the spectre of sustainability and the demonization of plastics. Speaking at Circularity for Polymers: The ICIS Recycling Conference in Berlin, in 2019, Paul Hodges, Chairman of International E-Chem, said there’s an awful lot of work to do in a very limited time. “It’s very clear there's a paradigm shift going on in the industry. Companies are waking up to the fact that waste plastics are a really big issue – one that’s not going to go away. Single use plastics are going to be in the firing line for the next few years – and business models simply must change,” he said. Hodges emphasized that at the core of the shift required is the fact that people don’t know how to recycle plastics, but they do understand why
we need to: “We haven't got the technology available. We haven’t got the collection processes set up. We need to move away from throwing rubbish away at waste sites and focus instead on developing resource centres based on a distributed network of local chemical recycling plants.” He says the move to smaller, local chemical recycling plants – which are more efficient and effective at separating out the different types of plastic to help better achieve the dream of a circular economy – is certainly on the horizon, yet still only a nascent industry. Richard Daley is managing director of ReNew ELP, a company at the cutting edge of chemical recycling. ReNew ELP are in the final stages of development on the first of four chemical recycling processing lines, with each line processing 20,000 tonnes a year. Their Cat-HTR technology utilizes what Daley describes as “a unique hydrothermal upgrading process, using supercritical water to break down plastics into reusable, valuable chemicals and oils.” ICIS senior editor, recycling, Mark Victory commented, “Chemical recovery is better in theory – but there are issues with cost and yield. In theory, it’s good, but there are still the same challenges of collection – and it will be five to ten years – an optimis-
