Plastic recycling facility equipped to handle city’s PET and HDPE bottles.

A plastic sorting, recycling and reprocessing facility that was several years in the making has now opened in Hong Kong.

Equipped for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic bottles discarded in Hong Kong, New Life Plastics Ltd. (NLP) is a joint venture formed by: the ALBA Group Asia Ltd. subsidiary of Berlin-based ALBA; Hong Kong-based Baguio Waste Management & Recycling Ltd.; and Hong Kong-based Swire Coca-Cola Ltd.

The 6,500-square-meter (70,000-square-feet) facility is capable of handling up to 900 metric tons of PET and HDPE bottles monthly in its initial configuration. The facility has been operating since the first quarter of this year, NLP says.

“The goal of New Life Plastics is to become a sustainable player between the consumers, the producers, and the Hong Kong SAR [Special Administrative Region] government by closing the loop at the end consumption, and recycling plastic bottles to produce food-grade ready rPET flakes and high-quality rHDPE flakes for a broad range of applications,” says Frank Schepers, general manager of NLP.

He continues, “According to the Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong (Waste Statistics for 2020) issued by the Environmental Protection Department, the overall plastic recyclables’ recovery rate has climbed from 8 percent in 2019 to 11 percent in 2020. Used plastic bottles are valuable resources with high recyclability. Thanks to the continuous initiatives and efforts made by the government, nongovernmental organizations, collectors, consumers and domestic helpers, the local community has made a great leap on their recycling awareness and habit in recent years when it comes to clean plastic bottle recycling.

"We understand the community might have concerns over the breadth and depth of local recycling for the postconsumer plastic bottles put in the collection bins. At NLP, we assure the Hong Kong community that all PET and HDPE plastic bottles arriving at our doorstep will be treated professionally with the state-of-art technology, and we are honored to play a part in the sustainable solution of plastic bottle recycling in Hong Kong.”

NLP says its role begins with the arrival of postconsumer PET and HDPE bottles packed in bales. That material will go through five “carefully designed advanced processing pillars in the facility, namely preparation, separation, sorting, processing and quality control,” the company says.

Initially, a bale breaker opens the bales, allowing the bottles to be separated from each other before going under an over-belt magnet, through a trommel screen and then a label scraper for the removal of metal impurities, size screening and label detachment, respectively.

Bottle sorting according to their resin (PET or HDPE) and color (transparent or other color) will then be undertaken by five optical sorters. After that, clear PET and HDPE bottles will be sent to different silos for cutting, grinding, washing and drying procedures.

Clear PET flakes will additionally go through a dual hot washing stage and a final quality check via another optical sorter. Those steps, says NLP, are important to comply with a food-grade ready standard.

Yields including rPET flakes, rHDPE flakes, label flakes, cap and ring flakes will be separately collected and sent through different silos for bagging over the course of the production process. The facility also features an in-house quality control laboratory to monitor yields, “thereby ensuring the highest possible standards are met before dispatching,” NLP says.

The introduction of what NLP calls first-of-its-kind food-grade ready plastic recycling processing in Hong Kong “is pivotal to the local plastic bottle recycling industry, as it is a closed-loop recycling solution, meaning that the valuable material is recycled back to a quality close to the original material; hence, creating more economic and environmental value,” NLP says.

“This is the so-called ‘bottle-to-bottle’ approach,” Schepers says. “The rPET plastic boom is attracting wider attention and I am glad to see NLP taking the lead in the domestic market for food-grade ready rPET recycling processing. I am sure our role will add value to the conventional plastic bottle recycling industry by providing a sustainable solution to Hong Kong’s plastic bottle usage through the creation of a circular economy for both PET and HDPE plastic bottles.”

Reusable and recyclable bottle will be displayed at the K Fair in Germany in October.

Borealis, an Austria-based global packaging firm, says it has worked with United States-based Trexel, a developer of foaming injection and blow molding processes, to create a new polypropylene (PP) bottle based on a grade from the Bornewables portfolio of polyolefins made using renewable feedstocks “derived 100 percent from [scrap] and residue streams.”

The bottle will be on display at the Borealis stand at the K 2022 (K Fair) on Oct. 19-26 in Düsseldorf, Germany. Borealis calls the bottle reusable and fully recyclable and says it “boasts a significantly lower overall CO2 footprint because it is composed of renewably-sourced feedstock and produced in a foaming process.”

Borealis says its Bornewables portfolio of circular polyolefins offers material performance equal to virgin polymers, also allowing for “design freedom and color flexibility” to “retain a premium look and feel.”

The new reusable new bottle retains its value over many life cycles because of the use of Trexel’s molding technology, while the use of a Bornewables grade means the new bottle minimizes its use of virgin materials. “Moreover, converters consume less energy in the production process when using the [Trexel] MuCell technology,” Borealis says.

“Reuse and recycling are core components of the integrated circular cascade model aligned with our EverMinds platform, which unites committed players across the entire value chain in accelerating the move to plastics circularity,” says Peter Voortmans, Borealis global commercial director of consumer products.

Voortmans adds, “This project is an excellent example of how we are working with industry partners to solve the problem of plastic waste while delivering real value to our customers. Combining our polymers and recycling expertise with Trexel’s material processing know-how enables us to reinvent essentials for sustainable living.”

“Having anticipated market demand for more sustainable plastic packaging, we have focused our development resources over the last several years on the circular sphere,” says David Bernstein, Trexel board chair and interim CEO. “Our foaming solutions for blow molding and thin-wall packaging enable brand owners and molders to realize improved sustainability and enhanced product performance while delivering cost savings.”

Germany-based Ineos Styrolution now offers two mechanically recycled-content ABS grades.

Ineos Styrolution, a Germany-based global provider of styrene plastics, has introduced two recycled-content resins as part of its specialty acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) product group. The company says its Novodur and Novodur High Heat resins can be used in applications in the automotive, electronics and household products sectors.

Ineos says, “The individual grades come with a significant product carbon footprint saving of up to 71 percent as compared to respective non-ECO product references.”

The company describes the mechanically recycled Novodur ECO MR resin as a general purpose ABS grade providing “high flowability, good stiffness and high gloss.” The material is available with a 30 percent, 50 percent or 70 percent postconsumer mechanically recycled content (PCR), according to the firm.

The Novodur ECO MR product comes in several colors and in black and offers a carbon footprint saving of up to 57 percent, Ineos says. The resin group “is currently under evaluation by various customers to become a material of choice for various household appliances,” the company adds.

The Ineos Novodur ECO High Heat MR family of products, available in black, includes “all ABS products modified to allow thermally stressed components to meet stringent stability requirements,” Ineos says. Three different high heat grades offer carbon footprint savings of up to 28 percent while the recycled content can be 30 percent or 40 percent, depending on the grade.  

“This announcement [will] not be the last such announcement,” says Dr. Eike Jahnke, vice president at Ineos Styrolution. “We will continue on our journey to deliver sustainable options for all our product groups.”

Organization’s SOAR conference designed to feature new techniques in turning discarded materials into resources.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Maryland, has issued a call for proposed presentations to be made at its SOAR (Sustainability Operations Action Resources) event in 2023.

The 2023 edition of SOAR, which has a tagline of “Technical Solutions for Resource Management,” will take place April 17-20 in Atlanta.

SWANA Technical Divisions Manager Natalie Garcia has invited interested parties to submit a proposal for a presentation via a video clip emailed to SWANA members.

“Delivering practical solutions to the solid waste industry’s most difficult problems, SOAR showcases the promising technologies, ideas and solutions that transform waste into a resource,” the organization says.

Calling it SWANA’s “premier technical conference,” the group says SOAR has been designed to connect “experts and problem solvers in industry-changing conversations about [their] most complex challenges.”

SWANA says in its email to members, it “welcomes your novel ideas, approaches, and solutions for addressing our industry’s pressing issues. Your proposal should spark debate, learning, and innovation; envision a future that promotes waste as a resource; and show participants a way to get there.”

The company will recycle polypropylene from the Bengals' 10 home games.

PureCycle Technologies Inc., based in Orlando, Florida, has partnered with the Cincinnati Bengals to implement its PureZero plastics recycling program geared toward stadiums and entertainment venues, which will divert items like souvenir stadium cups and food containers from being landfilled.

The Bengals are the third NFL team to partner with PureCycle. In November last year, the Cleveland Browns became the first team to implement the PureZero recycling program, and the Jacksonville Jaguars teamed up with PureCycle in July with a goal to divert more than 500,000 pieces of polypropylene (PP) from TIAA Bank Field.

Generally, PP mostly goes unrecycled because it is difficult and costly to recycle, according to the company. The PureZero program’s processing technology, developed by Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble, removes impurities from PP to create what it calls an ultra-pure recycled (UPR) plastic that can then be recycled again and again.

“We are thrilled to work alongside the Cincinnati Bengals to help stop plastic waste from entering the local environment throughout the year,” PureCycle CEO Dustin Olson says. “PureZero is a game-changing program that can help sports teams, entertainment venues, retail and even major office employers level up their sustainability goals.”

Olson continues, “The partnership will also engage fans in a variety of ways to reduce their own plastic waste footprint. Our goal is not only [to] recycle your gameday plastic waste but to engage communities on the importance of sustainability.”

PureCycle says its partnership with the Bengals includes a multistep approach to reducing the amount of plastic waste generated at Cincinnati’s 10 home games at Paycor Stadium. The company also will help stock concessions with PP products to create what it says is a truly circular recycling system and implement an innovative sustainability plan for the team.

In Jacksonville and Cleveland, concession-generated PP recycling was the focus of the teams’ initiatives, and the Jaguars deployed a marketing campaign during the season geared toward engaging and educating fans on the program and sustainability efforts through in-stadium video and signage.

RELATED: PureCycle breaks ground on plastics recycling facility in Georgia

“We are proud to work with PureCycle on the PureZero program to help reduce plastic waste pollution and keep our region beautiful,” Bengals Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Brian Sells says. “With their purification facility located in Ohio, we can help them tackle the plastic waste issues within our own backyard.”

The flagship PP recycling facility in Ironton, Ohio, is in the final phases of construction as the company announced in August it expected the site to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year and initial pellet production to being by year-end. The $363 million plant will be 185,000 square feet at the former Dow Chemical plant in Ironton.