A PIECE IN THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY PUZZLE Elisabeth Skoda explores some of the recent innovations in chemical recycling technology and shines a spotlight on collaborative efforts and prospects for the technology.
IN
very simple terms, the chemical recycling process breaks down plastics into feedstocks and monomers, enabling the creation of new chemicals and plastics that are equivalent to those made from fossil resources. CEFIC, the European Chemical Industry Council, has outlined several principles to ensure the scale up and full deployment of chemical recycling, which include collaboration and partnership to boost innovation and investments, increase transparency and develop uniform standards for a mass balance approach, further develop quality standards for sorted or pre-treated plastic waste and use LCA to measure environmental impacts along the life cycle of their products. To ensure the scale up and full deployment, policymakers are asked to “enable a policy framework that looks beyond the traditional boundaries of regions and members states, and offers an open investment environment and a competitive model, and an open, single market to ensure a continuous supply of plastic waste for the operation of chemical recycling plants.”
A cautious view In its report “El Dorado of Chemical Recycling - State of play and policy challenges”, NGO Zero Waste Europe takes a closer look at the technology’s potential to solve the plastic waste challenge. Zero Waste Europe’s report states that the information available about the environmental performance of chemical recycling technologies as a whole is still extremely limited and requires further research. “Chemical recycling is still in its infancy and most plants in the market are in a pilot stage. The potential roll-out of such technologies at industrial
scale can only be expected from 2025-2030 and this is an important factor when planning the transition to a Circular Economy and notably the decarbonisation agenda.” The report highlights the importance to set up the right policy framework in order to, on the one hand, accommodate chemical recycling as complementary to mechanical recycling and, on the other hand, ensure that the carbon stays in the plastic and is not released into the environment. “Allowing the conversion of plastic to fuels to be considered chemical recycling risks creating a loophole in EU Climate and Circular Economy legislation. With all its potential, chemical recycling can have a role to play in closing the material loop and moving away from disposal and recovery operations, up the waste hierarchy. Chemical recycling could be a complementary solution to mechanical recycling where the latter proves to be unsuited to materially recover plastic because it is too degraded, contaminated or too complex.”
Great potential for flexible packaging Dana Mosora, senior consultant for the CEFLEX consortium, sees chemical recycling as a ‘must have’ in the field of flexible packaging. “We at CEFLEX have run ‘proof of concept’ which demonstrates that flexible packaging can be recycled back into non-food packaging. Yet one problem is hard to tackle: How to make the recycled polymers fit for food packaging, the majority of which is made from flexibles. As we aim to recycle over 55% of it, we need to make sure it will also find its way back into food applications. Additionally, we recognize that there is a limit of how often polyolefins, which make up over 80% of flexible packaging, can be mechanically recycled.” Packaging Europe | 27 |
