PLASTICS RECYCLING
What will be left of you in 400 years’ time? Your plastic rubbish
Plastic is important for our everyday lives but it can also be a problem. Unlike organic material, it degrades extremely slowly in nature and forms microplastic that pollutes both our soil and groundwater. What’s more, plastic is, for the most part, produced from crude oil. All of these are excellent reasons for ensuring plastic is recycled as comprehensively as possible.
Can plastic be sustainable? Yes, if it is recycled
Our consumer world simply couldn’t function without plastic. This material has too many advantages and possible areas of use. However, if natural resources are to be conserved and climate change curbed, then it is vital that plastic is handled more sensibly and more sustainably. First and foremost, this means ensuring that plastic is not constantly being produced using virgin raw materials, i.e. using
crude oil, but is systematically recovered and reused. Two things are needed if this is to be achieved: firstly, products must be designed so that they can be easily recycled (think ecodesign and Design for Recycling); and secondly, suitable technologies must be on hand to recover all the plastics from these products and separate them according to type as well as to transform them into high-quality recyclate.
REMONDIS has been working in the field of plastics recycling for over 50 years now. The company realised just how important sustainability is many years ago. Compared to plastic produced from virgin crude oil, each tonne of recycled plastic cuts carbon emissions by, on average, around 1.6 tonnes.
Premium quality recyclate thanks to cutting-edge technology
Our R&D and technology departments work together to develop closely connected systems of processes and plant technology. They make it possible for us to recycle plastic in line with the highest requirements. This technology ranges from sorting processes that are so advanced that they can recover plastics from mixed materials and separate them according to type, all the way through to systems for producing premium quality recycled raw materials. This recyclate can be used by industry to make new sustainable products, such as plastic film and packaging as well as plastic products and components.
From Erftstadt to Lünen via Bochum – a perfect plastics recycling system
Light sales packaging is separated into a variety of different materials here using state-of-the-art near infrared (NIR) sorting technology. The plant’s output includes HDPE bales that are sent on to Bochum for further processing.
Cutting-edge systems are used here – including AI – to sort plastics according to type and colour. This creates the best possible input material for producing recyclate.
The recovered materials are transformed into extremely pure plastic pellets made of e.g. polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) or polystyrene (PS) – so-called recyclate.
Not all recyclate is the same
Nowadays, everyone agrees that the best way to make plastic products more sustainable is to increase their recycled content. For this to happen – besides industry being prepared to actually use the recyclate – then the recycled material must be of the right quality. And here at REMONDIS, we are leading the way in this area, too. It is our goal to produce recyclate that has such a high level of purity that it can even be used to produce packaging for hygiene-sensitive products. Which means that we are constantly working on further developing our recycling processes and carrying out material and product tests. The result: our recyclate is so pure that it can be used to produce packaging for baby products.
Find out more about recyclate at recyclingrohstoffe.de
Promoting Design for Recycling
No matter how many technological innovations may be developed in the recycling sector, there are still some fundamental requirements that must be in place so that
plastic can be recycled. Packaging and other plastic products must be manufactured so they are actually recyclable. We support manufacturers here by helping them to design their products by thinking from the end of their products’ life cycle backwards. Top priority here is to make sure that the individual types of plastic can be separated mechanically. This is not possible with so-called composite materials, which are used to make, for example, drinks cartons. The various different materials are stuck together in such thin layers that it is practically impossible to separate them from each other. Which is why we are calling for companies to avoid using composite materials wherever possible and are working with industry to develop alternative solutions.
Support for all matters involving packaging design can be found at EKO-PUNKT
Everyone needs to join in
Looking at all the raw materials around, plastic is one of the best for demonstrating just how important it is that all of the different players work together to make the recycling process a success. Manufacturers need to design products with the help of the circular economy so that the individual plastic materials can be recovered. Retailers need to ensure that more of these recyclable products make it to their shelves. And politicians need to create the right framework conditions to drive forward the sustainable development of plastic. A number of steps have actually been taken at EU level over the last few years. Besides banning certain plastic products, the EU has passed diverse regulations that will have to be met in the future. Just one example: all packaging must, in principle, be recyclable from the end of 2030 onwards.
Single-use plastic drinks bottles must also contain at least 30% recycled plastic from 2030 onwards.
REMONDIS also recycles PET from drinks bottles on a grand scale – helping Germany to achieve its recycling rate of over 95% in this area.
REMONDIS Recycling GmbH & Co. KG is responsible for all matters involving plastics recycling at our company
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