Chinese appliance manufacturer Midea (Beijiao, Guangdong; www.midea.com) has validated the Ineos Styrolution (Frankfurt, Germany; www.ineos-styrolution.com) ABS Eco grades, made from post-consumer recyclate (PCR), for use in the company’s range of sustainable household appliances. The plastics waste for appliance parts was processed by GER (Fengcheng, Jiangxi, China; www.ger.com.cn/english), a waste recycling company based in Jiangxi province, at its pilot plant in Foshan.

In an earlier collaboration, announced last year, Ineos Styrolution said it had linked up with GER to produce ABS grades with up to 70% recycled content at commercial scale for the Chinese market. The styrenics specialist said this would enable shorter lead times and improve supply stability for its products and services in China, its largest market for ABS.

The companies call their latest styrenics recycling project “a major milestone” for the establishment of what would be the world’s first large scale home appliance closed-loop circular economy system. Future plans call for Ineos Styrolution to produce its ABS and polystyrene Eco grades from Midea’s end-of-life products that have been dismantled and recycled by GER. Subsequently, the polymer material, tailor-made for Midea, would be used as a drop-in solution to make the company’s Eco home appliance range.

In the final step toward realising an integrated supply chain, Midea, GER, and Ineos Styrolution hope to validate the use of the German resin maker’s PS Eco grades on a commercial scale at Midea’s production facilities.