Software & Controls
Fluorescent marker technology sheds light on recycling challenges
By Professor Edward Kosior of Nextek
system is triggered by an ultraviolet (UV) light source that identifies the coded PRISM label, reads its code and air propels it into the appropriate recycling stream. Following extensive trials PRISM is now
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well proven in MRF setups and is plug and play ready. It is complementary to existing NIR (Near Infrared) technology and can easily be adapted to most sorting facilities around the world to target specific recycling streams such as food contact plastic packaging. The innovative technology uses traditional labelling and branding methods and is designed to identify a host of different materials applying multiple markers for a wide range of codes. These markers can be removed during recycling leaving no traces for the next cycle of use. Even the most challenging plastic waste
he vision of a true circular economy, one where we use resources sparingly and recycle endlessly centres around re- shaping the global economy to eliminate waste. Certainly this is inspiring environmentalists, governments and corporations alike as we attempt to bend how we do things back into harmony with nature. As European environment commissioner
Janez Potočnik once put it, in the foreword to an Ellen MacArthur Foundation report, we are aiming for prosperity in a world of finite resources. All well and good and this very same
report claims the circular economy could save European businesses up to $630 billion a year. But to really make a difference we need to be rolling up our sleeves and digging deeper into the pretzel-shaped dilemmas actual recycling is throwing up, otherwise achieving the more aspirational goals will not be possible. This is precisely what a world class British
consortium decided to do back in 2014 when they addressed the pressing lack of recyclable plastic materials. In fact even as recently as last year the European Commission reported that of the 27.1 million tonnes of plastic waste collected in Europe in 2016, only 31.1 per cent went to recycling facilities. The rest went to incinerators or landfills.
EUROPEAN PLASTIC RECYCLING It turns out that some 60 per cent of the European plastics converting companies find it hard to get a supply of recycled plastics materials that meet their quality standards. Which seems ludicrous when we are practically drowning in seas of plastic waste. The real problem is that recyclers need to be able to identify a pack’s past history during
18 April 2020
the sorting process, and with no effective way of separating food grade from non-food grade polymers little wonder most of it ends up being recycled into non packaging applications like crates and bins or, worse, goes straight to landfills or incinerators. Food grade plastic has been the most complex to obtain due to the risks of using second-hand plastics containing toxic chemicals that are potentially dangerous to human health. One of the worst offenders turns out to be one of the most popular polymers in packaging - polypropylene (PP). Whilst the packaging industry has invested in marketing PP as recyclable, not being able to differentiate between a food tray, soup pot and a fertiliser tub obviously hampers the full recycling potential of PP. In the US alone only 53 per cent of MRFs
take PP and only 31 per cent of US residents have access to PP collection, according to a recent Greenpeace report. Six years on and the British consortium
has now developed and tested an innovative identification technology that separates plastic to food grade quality in one single step, thereby radically transforming the sorting process in recycling facilities. Plastic Packaging Recycling using
Intelligent Separation technologies for Materials (PRISM) applies high performing luminescent materials to labels on plastic packaging, creating what is best described as an invisible barcode for plastics recycling. The process is surprisingly simple.
Fluorescent markers - produced from non- rare earth based compounds - are printed on labels or plastic packaging sleeves. As the mixed plastic waste runs along the conveyor belt the high speed sorting
can now be sorted at full speed of 2 tonnes per hour to over 96 per cent purity with a yield in excess of 95 per cent for PET. This meets EFSA’s stipulated 95 per cent purity for PET food grade plastic in a single sorting step. Other polymers such as PP may require
two steps of sorting and can reach upwards of 99 per cent purity. This is a significant step forward in the
sub-categorisation of plastics which are sorted automatically at high speed, and it opens up a wealth of new opportunities for brand-owners wishing to recover their packaging as part of the circular economy. Trials have been successfully conducted
with recycling organisations and brand owners and the next stages of commercialisation are in progress. PRISM is poised to become a vital stepping stone towards improved sorting capacity and yet another step closer to re-shaping how we manage our finite resources as we reduce our reliance on virgin plastics.
BRITISH CONSORTIUM OF PRISM PARTNERS • Nextek - PRISM project manager and recycling R&D • Brunel University London - Wolfson Material Processing Luminicescent expertise • CCL Labels - Multi-national label maker • Enlightened Lamp Recycling - Fluorescent lamp recyclers • Johnson Matthey - Speciality chemicals, catalysis and process technology • Mirage Inks - Leading manufacturer for printing inks for packaging applications • Tomra Sorting - World leader in automatic detection systems • WRAP UK - Leading waste and resources charity UK
nextek.org convertermag.com
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