Achieving circular economy in plastic recycling is a challenging task

The need for a circular economy is evident for the wellbeing of humans and the planet. When it comes to plastic recycling, there isn’t a single solution to fix all the challenges that relate to sorting, landfilling, pollution and so on. Ambitious targets have been set by the European Union – within its borders 55% of plastic packaging waste must be recycled by 2030.

There is a lot of progress to be made in the very roots of plastic recycling, in the everyday life of consumers. Sorting the plastic packaging right and making sure the discarded material doesn’t end up in nature are everybody’s responsibility. For those in the plastic recycling industry, the challenges lie in the fluctuating market and energy prices, among other things. 

Chemical recycling is a growing trend

Mechanical plastic recycling has the advantages of high industrial maturity, cost effectiveness (compared to chemical recycling) and the possibility of having decentralized processing. Chemical recycling in turn accepts lower quality input streams producing high quality output. 

Some plastic types are inherently hard to recycle in a mechanical recycling process. The mechanical recycling doesn’t change the chemical structure of the material, which is sorted, shredded to flakes, washed and re-melted into granules. Plastic packaging with layers of different kinds of plastics and dirty, contaminated industrial plastics are examples of plastics that are difficult to recycle mechanically. 

Another downside of mechanical recycling is the quality of the material produced. With careful sorting, the quality of recycled plastic is fairly good, but can’t be fully trusted to be safe for food packaging, for example. 

These may be a couple of reasons why chemical recycling is a growing trend in the plastic recycling field. The benefits of breaking down the plastic material into the polymers it consists of include the high quality of the end product. Chemically recycled plastic products are suitable for demanding uses, such as food packaging and medical supplies. 

Another important point is that chemical recycling can handle plastics that are hard to recycle mechanically and would otherwise end up in incineration or landfills. 

There are a few processes which chemical recycling utilizes. Chemical recycling technologies based on pyrolysis and gasification are leading the way because of their robustness and good economics. 

However, it is good to consider where the energy for the chemical recycling facility comes from when thinking of the overall climate benefits of using less fossil fuel in plastics. That’s because chemical recycling needs a lot of energy. Also, chemical recycling is a complex process highly dependent on process design and conditions such as temperature, and the chemistry of the process needs to be researched and perfected.

We believe that mechanical and chemical plastic recycling continue to co-exist, supporting each other on the journey to a circular economy in plastics.

Modernizing the start of the plastic recycling process

Achieving a circular economy in plastics is a big and complex task. Recycled plastics need to be considered attractive and durable by consumers. Modern and effective infrastructure is required to meet the capacity needs of plastic recycling and yet there is competition for the raw materials in the field. 

One of the biggest challenges to plastic recyclers is the profitability of recycling plastic. Here’s where Cross Wrap can help and make plastic recycling more efficient, even though we handle a small part of the whole process in a facility.

If the plastic material is transported to a plastic recycling facility over a long distance, it is usually compressed in bales. The first step in the process is most likely opening the bales and removing the metal wires. This can be done manually, but the trends point to the direction of automation, especially in newly established facilities. Cross Wrap’s CW Dewiring machine opens the bales and removes the metal wires cost-effectively. With an additional bale turning option, the machine can handle both horizontal and cross-wired bales. 

The machine reduces labour costs in the start of the process, as the manual wire cutting is replaced by an automated solution. Most importantly, it reduces workplace safety hazards since cutting the wires by hand is dangerous work. 

Plastic is and will remain an important part of our society, so we must work together to make recycling easier and more efficient to achieve our goals.

Contact us for a customized plastic recycling solution: sales@crosswrap.com