This is something that customers want more than anything, since it offers safety, and a good use of materials. We want the barriers that reduce the gas permeation, and the moisture for sensitive products, and we also want UV inhibitors and colors so that it protects against any loss of flavor, or nutrients as well. We also may want the package to be a bit bright as well. Then, we want the recycling efforts that are able to be achieved as well, and this is something that is a bit of a challenge for some companies.
But what happens once we get all of this back? The existing attack is usually recycling mechanically, where it separates materials based on metal, glass, paper, and plastics, and it’s very easy to set it up and reclaim the materials. The mechanical recycling though only goes so far with plastics, since they can’t deviate those feedstocks from the polymer that’s there, and the materials that we add to improve the performance of the packaging can impact the processing and appearance of those polymers. Then, it takes us to the next level when it comes to circularity.
If we want that, we need to have chemical and advanced recycling that makes it economical and one that works. The recycling of this allows for the feedstocks of this to deviate from this and any other undesirables, creating high-quality resins too. There are three areas of advanced recycling, each offering polymer breakdowns, and a different level of purity that’s needed for the feedstocks too. First you’ve got purification, which is where plastics get dissolved in solvents that are targeted, and this is extracted and the contaminated is then used as additives, barriers, and colorants which can be filtered and removed.
The result of this is a polymer which can be reused too. Technologies that focus on polystyrene and polypropylene are currently being used, with the feedstock offering more contaminants than what mechanical can handle, but it does target the polymers, and limited contaminants are there too.
Then you’ve got decomposition, which is where plastics get broken down into monomers, and then immediate and the process lets the contaminants be taken out too. The intermediates and monomers are then used in order to create new polymers. There are different technologies that exist which focus on PET, and the feedstock from there can have a lot more contaminants than the mechanical recycling and purification. Finally, we have conversion, which is where plastics get broken down into decomposition, and then there are hydrocarbons which are used to create new monomers, polymers, and intermediates, and the raw materials don’ have to create the same polymers from where they are coming from, and instead they use a polymer feedstock for purification and decomposition.
The challenge
There were technologies that have challenges that come with this. A big part of it is that there are fuels and petrochemicals which go to waste that are used in this, and they usually produce a lot in the polymers stage. Scaling this for production is the hardest part. But if you wat plastic back, you need to have the right programs in place, which can be capable of producing thousands of pounds of plastic in about an hour, and it can take a lot of challenges.
The best way to fix this is to encourage, invest, and support the programs which drive the technologies, and from there, use the materials there to drive the demand, which in turn can help with the plastic demands that are there too.
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