A European consortium has launched a project for the recycling of mixed plastic waste. The consortium, named Prime (www.fp7prime.eu), plans to use the waste to manufacture high value products with similar strength and surface quality to timber or aluminium. Potential products include flood barriers as well as marine and construction products.

“One of the biggest challenges facing the European recycling industry is what to do with low grade mixed plastic waste,” the consortium said in a statement. Producing the new products will require the development of cost-effective flexible moulding technology using a combination of established and innovative techniques, Prime said. “Experts in material science and innovators in manufacturing using mixed polymers are currently researching and developing pressure forming methods for innovative composite formulations and high efficiency heat transfer,” it added.

The consortium comprises 10 partners: five in the UK, three in Belgium, one in France and one in Hungary. They are working in partnership with the European Commission’s Research Executive Agency (REA). Prime said the partners have diverse backgrounds: Brunel University (London / UK; www.brunel.ac.uk), Armines (Paris / France; www.armines.net) and the UK Materials Technology Research Institute (MaTRI; www.uk-matri.org) have capabilities in mould design, process optimisation and material science. Acorn (Glastonbury, Somerset / UK; www.acornprojectmanagement.co.uk) has experience of commercialising new polymer manufacturing methods, while Caro (Royston, Hertfordshire / UK; www.carofds.co.uk) produces flood defence systems, and Mikrolin (Tatabánya / Hungary; www.mikrolin.hu), which converts recycled plastic waste into finished products, plans to manufacture cable channel for use in applications such as railway construction.