Page 32 - Plastics News August - 2023

Plastic waste management - collaboration is key

thing about this technology is that it's
modular, so you can line up one unit
beside the other and increase the up-
take of plastic waste and the capacity
of the facility overall,” he added.
It also allows a broader base of feed-
stock to be used. Greenback’s modu-
lar units make use of a microwave-
induced pyrolysis process developed
by Enval, originally a spin-out from
the University of Cambridge, and
reenback Recycling Technolo- ners are constructing a second unit at now owned by Greenback. The tech-
Ggies, Nestle Mexico joined by the same location, to increase capac- nology, developed specifically for re-
AEPW on construction second Enval ity up to the 6,000 tonnes projected covering materials from foil-laminated
chemical recycling unit for the site. A single module can pro- flexible packaging and can handle a
UK-based Greenback Recycling Tech- cess around 2,800 tonnes and can be wide variety of complex plastic pack-
nologies (Greenback) has developed scaled up incrementally as needed. aging, uses microwave energy to
a chemical recycling approach that The Alliance to End Plastic Waste break down plastics into solid, liquid,
is based on decentralised small-scale is providing funding for this second and gaseous components. The gas is
modular units designed for local use. module. funnelled back into the system and
The first plant recently went into op- “We just signed the agreement and used for power generation, minimis-
eration in Mexico and the second is we're looking forward to seeing it ing overall CO2 emissions and energy
planned, this time supported by the installed at the same facility, some- use. According to von Stauffenberg,
Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Sus- time within the next 12 months,” said this microwave system is the only one
tainable Plastics talked with Philippe Nicholas Kolesch, vice president of in the world that can separate plastic
von Stauffenberg, CEO and founder Projects at the AEPW. aluminium laminates into low-carbon-
of Greenback, and Nicholas Kolesch, Or sooner, according to Greenback cost aluminium and pyrolysis oil. “A
the Alliance’s vice president of Pro- CEO Philippe von Stauffenberg. “We Tetra Pak, for example, will usually
jects about the collaboration between should be able to get the modules have an aluminium stratum, which we
the two. built within nine months and then in- can then recover,” he noted.
There have been, over the past two stalled. We hope to be ready for com- The process is therefore a very effi-
years, a great many announcements missioning sometime before June of cient one that can take a wide array
of projects and plans for new chemi- next year,” he said. of materials. “The system can take
cal recycling facilities. There are far Technology a higher amount of PET and a higher
fewer that are able to report having amount of the types of oxygenated
actually built and taken a plant into “Greenback’s approach is very in- barriers used in flexible plastics these
operation. teresting,” said Kolesch. “It's a very days. We can use, say 30% of material
cost-effective technology to get to py- that other pyrolysis processes can't
One company that has now success- rolysis oil and then, hopefully, to food-
fully done so is Greenback. Founded grade plastics. What we've seen in our use, because of the Enval pyrolysis
in 2018 by Philippe von Stauffenberg, relationship over the last few years is, technology. Why is that important?
Greenback opened its first fully com- first of all, the development of the pi- Because the sorting can be less rigor-
mercial-scale recycling plant in May lot facility in the UK, with which we ous, which means lower costs, and
of this year. The plant is a lighthouse were quite impressed. Subsequently, more types of waste can be processed
project undertaken in collaboration we saw also the unit that has now in the system,” he explained.
with, and partially financed by, Nestlé been opened in Mexico. The great The process produces pyrolysis oil
Mexico, in Cuautla, Mexico. The part- that ideally is intended to be used to

32 PLASTICS NEWS August 2023
32 PLASTICS NEWS
August 2023