2022 Edition

Our project seeks to bring PET packaging plastic waste into circularity in South Africa, by adopting chemical recycling of non-recyclable PET trays (polyethylene terephthalate) to create a tray-to-tray recycling process. We shall exploit an innovative chemical recycling technology based on patented microwave hydrolysis technique, which converts PET packaging plastic waste into a new monomer Polymer grade Terephthalic Acid (TPA) and Ethylene Glycol (EG) resin similar to virgin raw materials. In this way, we can reduce the amount of waste made from plastic trays and bottles, into new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic products. We shall work closely with actors in the PET packaging sector to validate the quality of the recycled PET, ensuring that the full process and logistics chain are safe, robust, and economically viable. This strategic approach will combine plastics waste recycling with sustainable solutions to maximize chemical recycling to achieve our long-term target of GHG emissions reduction in the downstream recycling sector and output quality. The potential to realize enhanced economic performance will undoubtedly play a crucial role in overcoming inevitable barriers to adoption of chemical depolymerization within the PET recycling industry.  How did you get the idea? The idea of chemical recycling of hard to recycle multi-colour and contaminated PET plastic used as food packaging thermoform. From research gather in a pre-feasibility study undertaken, South Africa was found to import considerable amounts of plastic raw materials (resin) with a major portion of them ending up as Post Consumer Plastic Packaging Waste. Additionally, packaging plastic waste is a problem that is not being sufficiently addressed in South Africa leading to increased landfills and which is causing severe environmental challenges. We also realized that PET packaging plastic waste is difficult to recycle and comes in several thousand different chemical variations. South Africa has the capacity to collect and process large amounts of PET packaging plastic waste due to the size of its population and cities. In addition to existing recycling techniques, research is also currently being conducted to develop alternative and additional techniques to improve and increase the recycling of packaging plastic waste materials, optimize the quality of the recyclate and create more application opportunities. Although recycling rates of PET bottles are high, those of PET trays and films are still significantly lower due to the broad range of colours, multilayer structures, and a much poorer collection. This scenario has presented growth opportunities in the PET packaging plastic recycling economy and a possible solution for chemical recycling focused on chemical depolymerization to monomer materials.  How are you developing it? In developing this initiative, we shall adapt the GREN Technology, a chemical recycling technology to enable the recycling of bottles and trays made from PET material into food grade purity equivalent virgin PET resin. In this way we shall develop a robust process to chemically upcycle PET waste plastics and develop new plastics that can be repeatedly recyclable to make new products. Through this project we shall test the feasibility to better understand the possibilities, impossibilities, opportunities and impacts of a shift to reusable packaging waste that define parameters for designers, marketers, and decision-makers to come up with proper reusable solutions, and further investigate the potentials to reduce the barriers to realize reusable packaging systems. From a technical perspective, the chemical recycling of PET plastic waste shall exploit the chemical transformation (glycolysis) to recapture virgin monomer  (closed-loop) and directly converting it into other synthetic chemicals feedstocks (open-loop). We shall trial and validate this innovative chemical recycling technology based on glycolysis which converts PET packaging plastic waste into new monomer Polymer grade Terephthalic Acid (TPA) and Ethylene Glycol (EG). By using this technology, we shall reduce the amount of waste due to packaging plastic trays and bottles, thereby allowing horizontal recycling of PET trays and bottles into new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic products.  What kind of improvements are you bringing to the table? The project shall bring robust processes to chemically upcycle waste plastics and develop new plastics that are infinitely recyclable an improvement on the existing mechanical recycling methods. The use of chemically recycled PET shall contribute towards a “Zero Waste Economy,” through full-scale utilization of recycled plastic for plastic packaging containers in South Africa. The output product quality is equivalent to virgin PET, closing the circular economy loop and avoiding the use of crude oil substrates to produce new PET plastics. By using this technology, we can reduce the amount of waste due to plastic bottles, allowing horizontal recycling of PET bottles into new polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics bottles. By combining purification processes of crystallization and distillation we extract monomers while removing all impurities from the materials being recycled. This technology not only can PET-related businesses around the world engage in more sustainable manufacturing but can also change the way society and human lives surrounding them. The decision matrix will use the existing South African PETCO bottle-to-bottle recycling plant and collection network as a baseline. The PETCO partnership in South Africa shall include raw material producers, converters, brand owners, retailer, consumer, and recyclers. We shall provide primary research to generate more data to complete the decision matrix and offer final recommendations as to the feasibility of the proposed initiative. Through full-scale utilization of recycled plastic for plastic packaging containers in South Africa, in addition to the various approaches deployed to date, we are working to improve plastic circularity within the country. Through this project we shall bring the full recycling lifecycle of PET based plastics products into South Africa’s long-term success of its waste plastics circular economy. The TechnologyTM is superior in that it removes impurities, allowing a repeated cycle of PET bottle to PET bottle fabrication thus demonstrating that PET bottles can be a continually circulating resource.