Mixed Plastics Packaging Recycling

Technology Trials and Key Results

John Simmons Director

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Presentation outline
What is mixed plastics packaging? Technology overview Processing of whole items Processing of flaked items Process design development Recommended approaches Trial conclusions Recoup opinion

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What is mixed plastics packaging?

Consumption

Consumption data Collection systems Upstream sorting activities

Output

Communication

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 Plastic bottles What is mixed plastics packaging ?

This project is focussed on all mixed plastic packaging sourced from the domestic waste stream. This includes rigid and flexible plastic items of all Other materials polymer types and colours that are typically found in the household waste bin, but does exclude plastic bottles and non packaging items.

Non packaging plastics

Added pla trays Added plastic film

Removal of obvious contamination Bagged or baled Sample refinement

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Technology overview
Film Separation Rigid Item Separation Flake Processing

KME Stadler NIR systems

Pellenc QinetiQ Sims Titech

B&B Buhler Sortex Flottweg Hamos Herbold Pla.To

S+S SEA Srl Swiss Polymera TLT Unisensor

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Processing of whole items

Separating film from rigid plastics
Stadler Ballistic Separator KME Airdrum

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Separation of film from rigid material

Stadler Outputs KME Outputs

Rigids purity 97% - 99% Films purity 78% - 86% Throughput 3 6 tph Other flat materials Flat rigid items Carrier bags NIR systems
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Processing of whole items

Whole item sorting using infrared
Light Source Camera Array

EJECT

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Processing of whole items

PP PVC PET

PE

PS

PLA
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Processing of whole items

Plastic PP PE PET PS PVC PLA Throughput : 3 tph Output Purity 96% 94% 94% 87% 93% 97% Single or double sort Process speed vs. quality Pack contamination Manual sorting Colour sorting Black plastics

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Processing of flaked items

Separating polyolefin flake

Shredder, friction cleaning, air classifier and pre-cleaning equipment used to remove excess contamination and dirt before the separation stage.

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Float / sink system results

Technology A B C D E Polyolefin Purity 100% 99% 98% 100% 95% Throughput 1-2 tph. Water based process. Primary /secondary separation. Can process film streams. PLA sank. Specific polymer separation. Electrostatic separation. www.recoup.org

Flake colour separation

Camera colour identification and air ejection. Material from polymer separation trials. Sieving preparation. Throughput up to 4 tph for plastic flake.

3rd pass clear PO flake (99% purity)

2nd pass Clear PET (98.76% purity) www.recoup.org

Flake colour separation

25% colour

Diagrams from Nextek

< 5% colour

<1.24% colour www.recoup.org

Dry cleaning of flake (Pla.To)

Material Input Output Plastic Output Dirt Heavies Output Total Losses Kg 195.3 110.7 69.8 2.1 182.6 12.7 1% 36% 56%

Rigid flaked plastic packaging. Throughput 3 tph (<15% dirt). Can process film. Polymer sorted streams.

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Process design development

Baling Pre-sort Film separation Whole item separation

Granulator Compounding / Extrusion Flake separation Flake dry cleaning Bagging

Trialledtechnology Linkingtechnology Outputpreparation

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Recommended approaches
Debaler Manual Pre-sort Ballistic Separator Film manual QA Single eject NIR x3
Manual sort Clear PET bottles

Shredder x4 Dry Clean x4 Float / Sink x4

Compounding x3

Double eject NIR Baler / storage

Bagging Line x4 PP pellet PE pellet PO pellet PET flake Residue www.recoup.org

Baled Clear PET bottles Whole baled PVC Whole baled PS Residue

Recommended approaches
Debaler Manual Pre-sort Ballistic Separator Manual QA
Manual sort Clear PET bottles

Shredder Dry Clean Float / Sink

Compounding

Baler

Bagging Line Clear PET bottles Film Residue

PO pellet Residue

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Process design review

40,000 tpa plants (6 tph). Additional material infeed for process B. Process designs B and C are technically robust. Environmental and economic review. Process design B Recycling level per tonne input Capital cost 4.05 te 67.42% 15.4m Process design C 3.73 te 62.1% 2.6m

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Project conclusions 1
Mixed plastics packaging input material 30% plastic films, 54% rigid plastics packaging and 16% residual waste. Wide variation in content of mixed plastics packaging streams. Technology performance High level of film / rigids separation. An essential step. NIR systems can successfully identify and remove specific polymers. Effectively sorts PLA bioplastic and carton board but not black items. Flake separation achieves cleaning and high purity polyolefin output stream. Need to add value to film / sink fraction. Water based systems cannot accept high levels of contamination. Dry friction cleaning effectively removes surface dirt. Colour sorting technology can achieve high separation levels. www.recoup.org

Project conclusions 2
Process designs Two main approaches appear feasible. Any solutions must be robust. Pre-separation of residual waste from the input stream is necessary. Process may be refined when specifications developed. Further research Changes required to create cleaner mixed plastics packaging streams. Affect of introducing mixed plastics packaging recovery on existing systems. Develop good practice for mixed plastics packaging collection and sorting. Develop UK end market demand. Consider options for flaked sink material. Review input stream polymer types / solution for black plastics. www.recoup.org

Recoup opinion
Quality of other recyclates must not be compromised. The most visible remaining element of the household waste stream. Output specifications and market values to be developed. Structured and clear communications needed.

Domestic mixed plastic packaging is a commodity which has not yet realised its recycling potential in the UK.

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Thank you for listening

John Simmons Director t. 01733 375673 John.simmons@recoup.org www.recoup.org

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