STYRENIC PLASTICS | INNOVATION
Polystyrene recycling
gains traction
Collaboration among materials and technology companies has led to a string of mechanical and chemical recycling projects for polystyrene and other styrenic polymers. By Mikell Knights
Just a few years removed from being seen as difficult to recycle, innovation, collaboration and application in polystyrene recycling have taken root in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Styrenics produc- ers, packaging converters and brand owners today are forecasting waste polystyrene and other styrenic materials, buoyed by technology advanc- es, to perhaps become the fastest growing recycled polymer, increasing the capture of a wide range of end-of-life products. Ineos Styrolution announced that its sustainable ABS Eco grades, made from post-consumer recy- clate, were validated by Chinese appliance manufac- turer Midea for use in its range of sustainable household appliances. The post-consumer material is sourced from end-of-life household goods produced by Midea, with the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) processed by waste recycling enter- prise GER at its pilot plant in Foshan, China. The collaboration between the three companies is a major milestone that Durante Lin, Director of Systems and Resources for Midea Group Supply Chain Management, calls the “first large-scale home appliance closed-loop circular economy system in the world”. Ineos Styrolution says it will produce specially tailored ABS Eco and PS Eco grades exclusively for Midea that are sourced from Midea’s own products when they reach their
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end-of-life. GER will dismantle and recycle the materials. Ineos Styrolution will produce the sustainable grades as a drop-in solution to manu- facture Midea’s Eco line of home appliances. GER has created its own closed-loop industry
chain that allows for full-component recycling of household appliances. The company has developed technical and process advances, created an IoT whole-process traceability information platform, an automatic “dimensional” disassembly system, and technologies for controlled crushing of e-waste, fine sorting, and high-value recovery of used plastics. Its disassembly, waste plastics classification and modification and granulation technologies allow the company to achieve national qualifications for stand- ardised disposal of the products. GER has built many demonstration lines to prove out its technologies. Its technology/process chain combines the dismantling of used appliances, fine separation of waste metals, recycling and modifica- tion of waste plastic and the recycling of rare and precious metals on waste circuit boards. GER recycles ABS, HIPS, GPPS and other polymers such as HDPE, LLDPE, PC, PC and PMMA. It developed a low-temperature continuous pyrolysis technology and cascade separation technologies for recovery of metals.
GER and Midea created a partnership last year to January/February 2023 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 15
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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