PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
In 2012, 25.2 million tonnes of post-consumer waste plastic in Europe ended up in the waste stream. Despite improved plastic waste prevention, preparation for re-use, recycling and separate plastic waste collection, as well as improving plastic design and plastic product design, only around a quarter of all waste plastic was recycled in 2013. As a result, the European Commission has recently amended several waste-related EU directives. Higher targets have been set for the recycling of different waste streams and materials, including significantly higher recycling targets for plastic packaging waste (45% by 2020 and 60% by 2025). Moreover, the Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe states the goal of improving waste management by making better use of resources.
In the context of a Resource Efficient Europe, increasing the re-use and recycling of materials is considered a high priority for realising the vision of a circular economy within the EU. The project will address the environmental problem and contribute to a more resource efficient Europe by introducing a new plastic recycling technology that enables plastic waste to be used as a resource instead of being sent to landfill or incinerated. Post-consumer LDPE (low-density polyethylene) plastic foils recovered from municipal solid waste are considered difficult to recycle. This plastic waste usually has a high level of contamination with dirt, organic material and adhesives, etc. It must therefore undergo intensive treatment (grinding, washing and drying) during the recycling process.
As a result, in most countries, LDPE plastic waste is currently either incinerated for energy recovery or landfilled. Only a small amount of LDPE is recycled and the current state-of-the-art recycling processes do not sufficiently reduce the contamination level adversely affecting the quality of the recycled granulates. The re-granulate does not reach the quality of virgin material and can only be used for low-quality applications.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE AGANFOILS project aimed to demonstrate a new upcycling process for LDPE plastic waste. The project would contribute to the goal of Circular Economy in Europe of achieving a 75% recycling rate for packaging waste by 2030. The project furthermore foresaw a smart collection scheme that diverts LDPE away from landfills and incineration to recycling. The project also aimed to demonstrate a recycling installation at which post-consumer LDPE foils from dirty Materials Recycling Facilities (MRF) are upcycled to “as-good-as-new plastic”.
The innovative process would result in a higher quality odourless re-granulate. This re-granulate reduces the need for virgin plastic and improves resource efficiency by turning a waste product into a resource. For the first time an integrated, full-industrial scale, waste-to-resource recycling facility would be demonstrated on one location for plastic waste foil. By eliminating transportation needs, the facility would enable low-cost upcycling at a significantly lower environmental impact. It would largely be a closed looped process in which used process water is treated and reused, maximising resource efficiency.
Furthermore, by introducing an innovative hot washing stage to the plastic foil recycling process a higher quality end-product and higher yield could be achieved compared to current plastic foil recycling facilities.
The project objectives were to:
- Demonstrate that post-consumer LDPE foils can be efficiently recycled to produce a high-quality plastic re-granulate in a sustainable and economic way;
- Demonstrate an integrated, full-industrial scale, waste-to-resource plastic recycling process by using state-of-the-art equipment in a smart sequence and combining the recycling stage in an existing MRF;
- Reduce the environmental impact of the plastic recycling process through the efficient use of available residual energy and water streams; and
- Disseminate all project results to relevant stakeholders in order to raise awareness and support market acceptance of the demonstrated AGANFOILS process and its benefits.
RESULTS
The LIFE Aganfoils project demonstrated an integrated full-scale recycling process for plastic waste foils made from low-density polyethylene (LDPE) in Wijster, the Netherlands. It constructed two identical production lines (one with LIFE co-funding) that both have a yearly input capacity of 12,000 tonnes of plastic foils. Both lines are now operating almost at the intended capacity and produce re-granulates with the required quality for re-use in foil-to-foil recycling. In the last four months of the project's lifetime, the production lines had reached a 94% capacity level.
The project achieved a conversion rate of raw LDPE foils to re-granulate of 41.3%, which was lower than the expected 62.5% due to the intake foils being significantly more contaminated than anticipated. Nevertheless, lifecycle analysis showed that the Aganfoils process has a better environmental performance than the reference scenario; with 50% of the LDPE foils being incinerated and the remaining 50% recycled in other recycling facilities. Waste sorting, waste incineration with energy and heat recuperation, re-granulates production and wastewater treatment are all carried out at the Wijster site, allowing for energy, water and transport savings.
However, the Aganfoils process was found to be an economically unviable, and a business case for its replication cannot currently be made. To implement the project process companies would need to invest heavily in modifying their production lines and installing extra equipment. Moreover, mid 2020, virgin raw material for foil is too cheap at EUR 300 a tonne; recycled re-granulate was estimated to cost EUR 600 a tonne at the start of the project.
Mid 2020, the re-granulates are being delivered to the thick-layered market, were they are used to produce buckets, transport pellets and other plastic products with dimensional stability
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).
