SORTING | INNOVATION
New focus for NIR The project will take for its focus, for the very first time, medium to longer-life products, such as transit packaging, automotive interior components and electrical and electronic (EEE) devices. Plastics materials that have been selected therefore for evaluation purposes include: ABS used in automo- tive trims; PBT used as an insulator for electronics; and PP found in many plastics parts. These poly- mers have been chosen as they are featured in a wide range of applications and for their potential recyclability. The NIR Sort project follows the initial research done by specialist additive manufacturer, Colour Tone Masterbatch, which was acquired by Luxus last year. As part of a project funded by the UK’s Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), Colour Tone Masterbatch developed NIR reflecting colourants to replace carbon black used in black food tubs and trays. The project was able to validate that these colourants could allow spectros- copy to sort black food packaging waste. But most importantly, it was also able to still reproduce the exact black and opacity currently used in black packaging, ensuring the final product remained attractive to brand owners and retailers too.
Recovering problem plastics Following this initial work, the NIR Sort project aims to answer a fundamental question – can we sort every polymer in every application and then potentially reclaim them? Luxus is considering plastics and applications that haven’t been looked at previously to create new opportunities for the reclaiming and recovery of problem coloured and black plastics. Relatively few companies have focused on the post-use automatic sorting of more complex medium to longer-term plastic products. The majority of the research done to date has centred on single-use black food packag- ing and just a few polymers types. Current regulations designed to
reduce waste, such as the End of Life Vehicles and WEEE Directives, have taken the recovery of metals, not plastics, as their goal, since metals are easier to separate and are heavier, so are more useful to meet weight-driven recycling targets. If we are to increase plastics recycling rates (which are already stalling), then we need to
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
prioritise the recovery and recycling of many more types of plastics. Black plastics, for example, represents about 30%
of the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and vehicle polymers waste stream. This waste material, which is around 2m tonnes, cannot be recycled because it cannot be automatically sorted. While a further million tonnes of coloured plastics waste is lost to landfill or incineration too in the UK each year. The key challenge here is the separation of
different polymer types. This means that product designers should be encouraged to consider recyclability of the materials they specify from the very outset.
Colour challenges So NIR Sort is developing colourant formulations at key diagnostic near-infrared wavelengths that are tailored for individual polymers. Each colourant formulation is being produced at minimal cost while still maintaining the same colour accuracy as found in premium, but non-detectable alternatives. We have to produce colourants that are aestheti-
cally pleasing and correct, which is more complex than it may sound. Traditionally, colourants that are NIR-detectable do not cover as well as carbon black. These new colourants have to meet colour criteria and still be sufficiently detectable via optical sorting methods. The project’s technical teams will therefore test
key parameters including: colour density, physical characteristics such as accelerated ageing, separa- tion efficiency and final purity and re-processability. Technical trials are currently underway to develop the materials for individual parts, the results of which will be reported later this year.
‘Closing the loop’ on plastics The development of this new range of NIR colour- ants, therefore, has the potential to deliver real added value. It enables producers to take responsi- bility by ensuring that the plastics featured in black and many coloured products are designed for ‘end of life’ recyclability. By simply specifying this alterna- tive technology, they are effectively ‘closing the loop’ on plastics waste, reducing landfill and helping to meet stringent producer responsibility regulations in the process - surely this is better for us all?
CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: �
www.luxus.co.uk �
www.polykemi.se �
www.iplplastics.com �
www.colourtone-masterbatch.co.uk
Left: Peter Atterby, Managing Director of Luxus, based in the UK
March/April 2018 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 33
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