Obtaining pure recyclates from mixed household waste remains the ultimate discipline for any reclaim company. German plastics recycler APK (Merseburg; www.apk-ag.de) reports that it reached a milestone in 2021 by recycling waste on an industrial scale using its own solvent-based process, “Newcycling”.

The scaling and decolourisation targets have been fully achieved, says Klaus Wohnig, APK’s CEO. The starting material for the Newcycling production campaign at the Merseburg site was mixed film waste from household collection. The result: a light-coloured LDPE recyclate that was subsequently reprocessed into a film and, according to the company, has good colour and transparency values, similar to films made from virgin material.

“The proof of concept represents an important step on our way to building new Newcycling plants,” said Maik Pusch, director of corporate development at APK. Over the next few years, several new plants are expected to be built together with partners in the plastics value chain. Currently, the recycling company employs about 150 people, and the production plant has a reclaim capacity of up to 20,000 t/y.

Recently, APK announced the realignment of its sales activities under the leadership of Frank Brommbeer. Additionally, Susanne Küppers is set to join the company’s management team as new head of finance from 1 January 2022.