NEWS


Flexible plastic recycling investment in Australia


An investment of A$20 million (US$13m) will help to divert up to 14,000 tonnes/year of flexible packaging from landfill in South Australia. The investment, from the


Australian government, will help Recycling Plastics Australia to clean and purify items such as shopping bags and food packaging to create feedstock for new flexible packaging. The project is expected


to create 45 jobs. “This funding will see our Kilburn site in South Australia become the promi- nent soft-plastic recycling processor in the country – with materials recycled here and sold into local and global packaging markets,” said Peter Gregg, chair of Recycling Plastics Australia. This project is one of the first announced under the new Recycling Modernisa- tion Fund’s plastics technol-


ogy stream. The A$60 million stream funds solutions to increase Australia’s recycling and recovery rates for difficult- to-recycle plastics, enabling collection schemes to be scaled up over time. Nationally, the Federal government plans to increase recycling capacity in Australia by more than 1m tonnes/year and create more than 3,000 jobs. � www.rpau.com.au


Surface effects at Silverstone


WrapFest, a show for the vehicle and surface detailing community, will take place at Silverstone in the UK on 3-4 October 2024. It will showcase a range of solutions for vinyl installers – including vehicle wrapping films, paint protection films and digital printing machinery. “The industry has moved into the fast


lane, enabling businesses to grow and capitalise on the demand for wrapping and vehicle customisation,” said Duncan MacOwan, head of marketing and events at the show’s organiser, FESPA. � www.wrap-fest.com


PMMA through


recycling Trinseo has opened a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) depolymerisation facility in Rho, Italy. The pilot facility will


convert waste PMMA back into the methyl meth- acrylate (MMA) monomer. “This will help advance our goal to support a circular economy,” said Francesca Reverberi, chief sustainability officer at Trinseo. The technology will allow acrylic products such as PMMA sheet to be recycled. Returning the material to its monomer form also allows additives and contaminants to be removed, according to Trinseo. The recycled MMA (rMMA) generated by the facility will be used in Trinseo’s Altuglas and Plexiglas R-Life product portfolios. The company says the rMMA is compa- rable to virgin raw materials. � www.trinseo.com


Aimplas generates gas from bioplastics


Spanish researchers are looking for a new use for bioplastic waste – a source of biogas. Researchers in the 28-month


Valplast project will study how anaero- bic digestion can be used to convert biodegradable plastics – and sludge from sewage treatment plants – into biogas that can be used as an energy source. Project partners include research organisation Aimplas, the Calagua


4


Group, Global Omnium Medioambi- ente and Fych Technologies. “The main innovation of the project involves understanding that bioplastics are a resource that can be recovered and transformed into green energy,” said the researchers. The project will study – at laboratory and pilot scale – the degradation of different plastics through biological treatment under anaerobic conditions. � www.aimplas.es


FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | July/August 2024 www.filmandsheet.com


IMAGE: FESPA


IMAGE: AIMPLAS


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