PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The Waste Framework Directive sets a 50% target for recycling and re-use by weight of plastic from households by 2020. The amount of multilayer or complex sheet packages has increased significantly over recent years. These plastics account for 20% of waste from the food packaging industry, and 30% in weight of household waste. There are three types of multilayer waste, according to their origin: post-industrial waste from extrusion processes, post-industrial waste from thermoforming processes, and domestic waste. In the case of single-layer waste from extrusion and thermoforming processes, these wastes can be reintegrated in the process as raw materials by the producer or original manufacturer. However, this re-use process is not feasible for multilayer waste, due to the different physicochemical characteristics of each layer. The necessary treatment for one layer is not valid for another, and therefore multilayer waste is sent to waste managers with around 90% destined for incineration or landfill.
OBJECTIVES
LIFE rPack2L proposed a solution for recycling multilayer plastic waste, thus diverting it from incineration or landfill. It would develop an integral scheme to recover valuable PVC and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) for re-use as raw materials for packaging or recycled plastic-based products. The project would test the new technology at a unique semi-industrial scale plant in Austria. At present there is no recycling process for multilayer packaging anywhere in the world that enables these plastics to be recovered.
The main actions of the project would be to:
- Separately collect multilayer plastic waste, by creating a stakeholder network and implementing collection points for post-industrial waste in at least one plastic film manufacturer and one packaging manufacturer;
- Separate the different layers of the waste at the pilot plant by designing an innovative and flexible packaging delamination process for different specifications of PVC/PET-based multilayer film and waste streams; and
- Analyse the final materials obtained and adapt the process to meet the quality requirements of potential users – in particular, PVC for manufacturing recycled multilayer packaging, and PET for industrial applications (e.g. agriculture and automotive) or valorisation to produce fuel via pyrolysis.
- Expected results:
- Recycling of 1 836 tonnes of multilayer plastic waste during the project;
- A recycling rate of 90% for the multilayer plastic waste collected;
- Reducing by 20% the CO2 emissions associated with the separation process;
- A ratio of 20% recycled material to virgin material is expected;
- Decreasing the amount of waste going to landfill by 15%;
- A Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) for PVC/PE packaging, to enable a full assessment of the implementation of the technology at European level and its effects;
- Production of a Good Practices Guide on recycling and reuse of multilayer packaging; and
- Development of a potential market for recycled PVC and PE, thus creating a new green economic activity able to produce wealth and create jobs.
RESULTS
The LIFE rPack2L project has not achieved the expected objectives and results and was terminated earlier on 29/09/17.
