Extrusion International 3-2023

46 Extrusion International 3/2023 RECYCLING Keeping Pace with High-quality Recycled Resin Production of recycled plastic content is far from meeting demand, posing major industry challenges. Embracing the latest technological advancement in flake sorting helps bridge the gap between supply and demand and gives recyclers a competitive edge in efficiency and profitability. T he plastic industry is in transition and facing a set of challenges, the most prominent of which is delivering high-quality secondary feedstock in large enough volumes to meet the ever-growing demand. Over the last decades, plastic pro- duction rates shot up unprecedent- edly. According to Plastics Europe, global plastic production reached 390.7 million metric tons in 2021 (Including plastics production from polymerization and production of mechanically reycled plastics), of which 352.3 MT is virgin-based (90.2%) and only 32.5 MT (8.3%) from post-consumer recycled plastics. A clos- er look at the distribution of the total plastic production by type reveals that polyolefins make up the majority of it with manufacturing rates amounting to approxi- mately 180.5 million MT. Although there is an affluence of plastic on the market and further increase expected, recycling rates remain low and access to high-quality recyclates is limited. In times when legislation and re- cycled content targets become increasingly stringent and time-sensitive, it is crucial to unlock the potential of existing solutions. A glance at the current state of recycling shows that waste management infrastructures, from collection to sorting and recycling, have become more mature in numerous countries around the world, but the capaci- ties available are still not keeping pace with the ever- increasing demand for recycled resin. More investment is needed to establish solutions at scale, producing the volumes and qualities required. Fortunately, some bottlenecks can be overcome with sensor-based flake sorting solutions. As part of the recycling process, flake sorting narrows both the quality and quantity gap for polyolefins (PO), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and a growing number of other applications. Recyclers us- ing the latest flake sorting technology can capture more types of material, maximize yield and maintain profit - able operations. Quantum leap in recyclates quality Flake sorting is no stranger to plastic recycling. It al- lows for the creation of high-purity mono fractions of one material type and/or color and is the last purifica - tion step before the target fractions go into extrusion. Thus, it is an indispensable component of the recycling process and directly impacts the final quality and yield of the recyclates. To date, flake sorters are already integrated into nu - merous bottle recycling plants around the world but hold much more potential. They can also be used for treating mixed plastic waste, unleashing new streams of available feedstock and improving recyclates quality. Often, where no advanced flake sorting solutions are Flake sorter purifying post-consumer plastics Flake sorters in recycling facility