Extrusion International 4-2019

11 Extrusion International 4/2019 Flexible Polyethylene Recycling in Europe Accelerating the Transition Towards Circular Economy Plastics Recyclers Europe published a paper identifying the prerequisites for increasing recycling of flexible polyethylene into a high-quality raw material while ensuring a sustainable and cost-effective process. With the converters’ demand of around 9 million tonnes (Plastics the facts – Analysis of European plastics production, demand and waste data. Plastics Europe. 2018), LLDPE/LDPE is the second biggest resin processed in the EU and conse- quently demonstrates a high recycling potential. However, today’s recycling rate of this resin is at the level of around 31%. This is caused by the fact that reaching for higher tar- gets and higher quality of the recycled material from this stream is hampered by a number of challenges that need to be overcome in order to reach beyond the low hanging fruit. “Plastic filmwaste is still perceived as a demanding and diffi- cult stream to treat, however, we in Europe have proven that even stretch film recycling is possible. Nonetheless, to reach for the additional quantities from post-consumer packaging we need a strong commitment of the value chain to work towards making this material fully sustainable”, said Ton Emans, Plastics Recyclers Europe, President. The main bottlenecks specified in the paper refer to low col- lection rates & low quality of input materials, lack of design for recycling as well as the continuous development of the re- cycling technologies. Firstly, harmonized collection and sort- ing processes at the EU level must be introduced to increase both the quantity and the quality of the collected waste. Secondly, design of plastic packaging controls to a large ex- tent the degree to which packaging can be recycled, as struc- tures and materials which are incompatible with mechanical recycling cause a number of disruptions in a recycling line. Therefore, specific design for recycling guidelines must be followed when manufacturing a product and when intro- ducing any kind of innovation on the market. Lastly, although the advancements in recycling and sorting technologies have greatly improved in the past years more investments as well as research & development is needed to continuously enhance the quality of recycled material. The industry’s effort will have to be further strengthened by an adequate legislative framework that will create condi- tions for further expansion. The Member States and regions will equally have to thoroughly implement the EU legislation. The new legislative measures introduced by the reviewed Waste Package, the Plastics Strategy and the Single Use Di- rective oblige the industry to take immediate and decisive steps in production and waste management of plastics pack- aging. The new targets can be achieved only if the main bot- tlenecks are undertaken and solutions for them elaborated. RecyClassTM c/o Plastics Recyclers Europe www.recyclass.eu *www.plasticsrecyclers.eu/your-plastic-film-recyclable-test-it 8th Biocomposites Conference Cologne 14 - 15 November 2019, Cologne, Germany Recently, biocomposites have begun to penetrate several additional markets beyond the main sales market of deck- ing. With the latest advances in injection moulding and 3D printing, both Wood-Plastic Composites (WPC) and Natural Fibre Composites (NFC) are of high interest for a multitude of applications and fruitful new options for product differentia- tion. The “8th Biocomposites Conference Cologne” offers a comprehensive overview of current developments, product diversity and application areas. With an average of 250 par- ticipants and 30 exhibitors, the conference has established itself as the leading international conference in the sector of biocomposites. The preliminary programme is available online at: www.biocompositescc.com/programme As in previous years, the “Biocomposite of the Year 2019” innovation prize will be awarded again this year from no- va-institute together with the sponsor Coperion. The fo- nova-Institut GmbH www.nova-institut.eu www.biocompositescc.com cus will be on new developments that entered the market in 2018/19 or will come onto the market in 2019. Current information on the Innovation Award can be found at: www.biocompositescc.com/award-application