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Partners sought for flexible plastic recycling project

The Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging (CEFLEX) and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste are seeking partners to develop a recycling plant for flexible plastics derived from household waste.

The ValueFlex plant will recycle flexible plastics derived from household waste

CEFLEX is a collaboration of more than 180 European companies, associations and organisations representing the “entire value chain of flexible packaging”, including recyclers such as Berry-bpi and Suez.
The Alliance is a global non-profit organisation which aims to end plastic waste in the environment.

CEFLEX says it has developed a new model for recycling flexible plastics known as ‘ValueFlex’. The model is said to involve “state-of-the-art” sorting with “high-quality” processing in a “modular and flexible approach”.

The group says it has proven the ValueFlex concept for recycling post-consumer flexible plastic waste through “extensive” semi-industrial trials and is now looking for partners to develop the facility.

The plant will be based in Europe and have an annual processing capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year. CEFLEX and the Alliance hope for it to be operational by 2025.

Dana Mosora, workstream consultant at CEFLEX, said: “Today, we have a fresh technical and operational proposal and are launching a call for expressions of interest for investors and partners to build and operate a first-generation commercial-scale ValueFlex plant.

“Together, the project partners will work with successful bidders providing expertise and relevant support to make it happen.”

The application window for expressions of interest opens tomorrow (1 November).

Process

Flexible plastics are notoriously difficult to recycle and a number of initiatives have been launched in recent years to address this growing waste stream, not all of them successful. As such, the industry will monitor the ValueFlex project with interest.

The ValueFlex process focuses on producing high-quality granulates for film-to-film applications

  • Alliance to End Plastic Waste spokesperson

When asked by letsrecycle.com for more details on the ValueFlex process, a spokesperson for the Alliance said: “The ValueFlex process focuses on producing high-quality granulates for film-to-film applications and then maximising value for other fractions via off-takes for specialised processing, including chemical recycling or recyclates for injection moulding applications.

“The modularity of the concept enables the best possible adaptation to the needs of reprocessing and is flexible to changing market requirements.

“Two parallel sorting lines with numerous sensor-based sorting units allow the reprocessing of various flexible infeed material types, targeting LDPE-natural, LDPE flex and PP film as main components.

“In addition to the sorting lines, the ValueFlex plant will comprise multiple processing lines, including cold wash, hot wash and de-inking steps, depending on the required cleaning intensity. The finishing of end products occurs in the extrusion and deodorisation module.”

Flexible plastics

CEFLEX and the Alliance claim mechanically recycling flexible plastics is “challenging” due to their lightweight, complex and often food-contaminated nature.

Current solutions are generally limited to processing material recovered through the segregated collection of plastic bags and films used for product delivery in retail and commercial supply chains, the pair say.

Martyn Tickner, chief advisor for circular solutions at the Alliance, said: “By improving the value and flexibility of sorting and recycling processes for polyolefin-based flexible packaging, we can support market demand for high quality post-consumer recyclates from mechanical recycling and feedstocks for chemical recycling.”

Related link
Expressions of Interest: ValueFlex

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