Together with Norwegian sorting technology specialist Tomra (Asker; www.tomra.com), Borealis (Vienna / Austria; www.borealisgroup.com) has commenced operations at a pilot plant for mechanical recycling in Lahnstein / Germany. The line, which the partners operate together with waste disposal company Zimmerman, will use household and plastic film waste to make “Borcycle M” brand recyclates. These are said to be suitable for demanding applications in consumer goods and the car industry due to their high degree of purity, low odour, high product resistance and only slight colour deviations.

The Austrian polyolefins group said it expects “unsurpassed results.” Tomra’s head for circular economy Volker Rehrmann described the new facility as one of the “most advanced mechanical recycling systems for post-consumer polymer waste.”

The Borcycle portfolio is divided into “Borcycle M”, “Borcycle S” from solvent-based recycling, and “Borcycle C” from chemical recycling. The latter two are still in the development or pre-development phase, the company said.

Major brand operators are already showing interest in the recycled materials. “The first product tests were really promising,” said Gian De Belder, technical director for R&D of packaging sustainability at US consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G, Cincinnati, Ohio; www.us.pg.com). He said Borealis’ new approach has the potential to increase both the quality and the quantity of post-consumer recyclates. This can help P&G with its stated goal of halving the amount of virgin polymer it uses – a reduction of 300,000 t/y year – by 2030, De Belder added (see Plasteurope.com of 01.11.2019).

Thorsten Leopold, director of international packaging technology for home care at German consumer goods producer Henkel (Düsseldorf; www.henkel.com) said, “One of the greatest challenges on the way to a stronger cycle orientation is the availability of high-quality recycled plastics that can be used for the packaging of our brands.”