Every year, more than 6 million tons of plastic waste accumulate in Germany. Of this, 5.2 million tons alone is post-consumer and thus end-consumer waste. However, only 5.6 percent of the plastic recyclates produced from it are reused to manufacture new products. The reason lies in the uncertainty of many companies as to what recyclate can actually be used for. That's why it's important to take a close look at the enormous possibilities.
Plastic recyclate - what is it actually?
Recyclates are plastics such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET ) that have already been disposed of once by households or commercial enterprises and used to manufacture new products.
So if you ever come across the term "recyclate," it usually refers to plastics. Glass, paper or metal can also be recycled, but they are referred to differently. Recyclates, however, can have very different properties, as you can already see from the different types of plastic that can be recycled. The origin of the material plays an important role here.
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This recyclate was already a product that was purchased by a consumer and then disposed of as a recyclable material. You can recognize recyclates by their designation. The various plastics are preceded by a small R: rPET, rPP or rPE.
 You can find even more information about sustainable packaging in our blog! We use sustainable plastics for our pouch packaging, for example. |
How is a plastic recyclate created?
The prerequisite for targeted recycling of plastics is sorting by type. The plastic waste can then be washed, cleaned of other impurities, pressed and shredded. The further procedure depends on both the type of plastic and the intended use.
On the one hand, the plastic waste can be processed into a regranulate. With the help of extrusion, extrusion blow molding, forming or injection molding, new products can be manufactured. On the other hand, used plastic can also be reprocessed by mechanical, chemical and solvent-based recycling.
Plastic recyclates - some examples from practice:
Enzymatic recycling |
Carbios, a company based in Clermont-Limagne, France, combines plastics processing with enzymology for this purpose: The plastics are to be decomposed by enzymes in such a way that the waste can be recycled again and again. Enzymes are used that can break down PET under comparatively simple conditions in terms of temperature and pressure. A demonstration plant is in operation. |
Closed-loop recycling |
Prof. Dr. Stefan Mecking and other chemists from the University of Konstanz are targeting the predetermined breaking points in the PE molecules in order to break up the polymer chains and break them down into their building blocks. In the process, both the crystal structure and the properties of the material remain unaffected. The special feature: This process works at 120 °C - a huge step forward in terms of energy consumption. The recovery rate thus amounts to 96 percent of the material to be recycled, without any sacrifices in terms of properties. PE obtained from vegetable oil and typical waste mixtures were used. |
Chemcycling |
BASF and other partners active along the industrial value chain are involved in pyrolysis - a thermomechanical process. Here, plastic waste is converted into pyrolysis oil, which in turn is fed into the BASF production network to save fossil raw materials. The end products have no different properties than those obtained by processing fossil feedstocks. |
iCycle platform |
The pyrolysis process is also preferred by the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology (UMSICHT). Scientists developed new, highly energy-efficient heat exchanger technologies to operate the plant and transfer the heat optimally. The focus is strongly on contaminated, polluted plastic waste, which contains composite materials that are difficult to recycle and are therefore problematic. In addition, the researchers are looking at processes for treating and purifying the pyrolysis oils - but so far only for demonstration purposes. |
Upcycling |
The 3M subsidiary Dyneon shows how material upgrading can be achieved when recycling plastics: the company can process up to 500 metric tons of fluoropolymer waste into new plastic per year. |
OMV Reoil Project |
OMV produces synthetic crude oil from plastic waste. To do this, the plastics are vaporized and then chemically recombined into shorter chains. Together with Borealis, OMV aims to promote the chemical recycling of post-consumer plastics in particular. The synthetic crude oil obtained is further processed both in the plastics industry and into fuels. |
Creasolv process |
The Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV) developed the three-stage Creasolv process. Which polymer is dissolved out of the plastic to be recycled in each case and fed into a new recycling process depends on the solvent. The solution is further purified to achieve in the third step that the plastic is precipitated and processed into granules. The quality is impressive, as there is no difference to new plastic - in the industrial pilot plant. |
ResolVe process |
A joint project of various German institutes supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) aims to chemically recycle polystyrene. The starting material is provided by yellow sacks: their contents are cleaned, sorted and shredded to produce pure polystyrene flakes. Thermal degradation then takes place in a twin-screw extruder, resulting in a condensate of oligomers and monomers and some volatile cracking products. Subsequent fractional distillation, to which the styrene monomers contained in the condensate are subjected, yields a recyclate that can be processed into polystyrene. |
Thermal Anaerobic Conversion (TAC) |
This patented process is used to convert plastic waste: For this purpose LDPE, PS, PP and HDPE are heated and melted in the absence of oxygen to produce a richly saturated hydrocarbon vapor from the polymer molecules. The condensates can in turn be used to produce hydrocarbon products such as synthetic gases, light oil and crude diesel, while non-condensable gases are collected and burned off. |
A question of quality - how do recyclates differ?
It is obvious that both the different starting products and the respective recycling process influence the quality of the recyclates. However, a uniform classification of different qualities as well as their identification is still difficult. This is precisely the problem that small and medium-sized companies face when using recyclates.
The DIN SPEC 91446 'Classification of plastic recyclates by data quality levels for use and (internet-based) trade' is intended to remedy this situation.
This apparently allows recyclates to be sorted into four clearly defined and different data quality levels. This is crucial for the circular economy to function. If there are no clear quality rules for the recyclates, neither their value can be quantified nor can trade in them be initiated. How else are potential customers to be encouraged to purchase recyclates and integrate them into their production process?
Use of recycled materials in Germany - status quo
For many decades, the German plastics industry has been able to impress the global market with product and technology innovations. It is precisely this success that apparently makes it difficult for companies to correctly assess trends.
Similar to our auto industry, the sector celebrates its successes but pays too little attention to the ecological problems. It remains to be seen whether the industry does not take note of them or just refuses (so far) to tackle them consistently.
The fact is, however, that there is a change in image outside this industry: The once so positive reputation of plastics due to their stability and the wide range of possible applications is increasingly turning into the opposite.
Nevertheless, the plastics industry prefers to focus on profit-optimized business models and outstanding technical performance of products.
A drastic rethink is needed here to achieve a countermovement in the industry. To make matters worse, recyclates are often more expensive than the relevant primary plastics. If processing companies nevertheless decide in favor of the recycled alternative, then the primary concern is to achieve sustainability targets and optimize the ecological footprint. Political initiatives, such as those in Great Britain, also come into question for this purpose: If plastic packaging is produced there with less than 30 percent recyclate, a tax must be paid on it.
Recyclate vs. primary plastic - how big is the savings potential?
Such political pressure would be justified, because the use of recyclates brings with it a number of advantages:
Recycling plastics causes lower CO2 emissions than the production of primary plastics. A Swedish study shows that 0.8 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent can be saved per kilogram of plastic if primary plastics are replaced by recyclates.
 To produce plastics, crude oil must be extracted, transported and refined. These processes consume energy and, particularly in the case of drilling, release methane the gas is much more harmful to the climate than carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide. If recycled material is used, these steps and all their consequences are eliminated. |
What are the EU's plans to promote plastic recyclate?
The European Commission launched the Circular Plastic Alliance (CPA) in 2018. The goal of the Circular Plastic Alliance is to bring products containing at least 10 million tons of recycled plastics to the EU-wide market by 2025.
The CPA currently includes more than 300 private and public stakeholders in the plastics value chain in the EU. You will also find very well-known players such as Mars, Borealis or Henkel, who are pursuing a common goal: to implement more plastic recyclates in the cycle. So the theory is there - practical implementation must follow.
In Germany, too, the use of recyclates is supported by politicians - for example, the amendment to the Packaging Act: Here, for the first time, a minimum proportion of recyclates is prescribed in beverage bottles made from single-use plastic. Accordingly, these PET disposable bottles must contain at least 25 percent recyclates and, from 2030, all beverage bottles must contain at least 30 percent recyclates. Manufacturers who already use recyclates today will be rewarded accordingly.
Conclusion: Plastic recyclates - enormous potential for environmental protection
The proportion of recycled plastic waste from the post-consumer sector is still far too low at 5.6 percent - all protagonists agree on this. There are a variety of approaches that appear worthwhile. However, the corporations prefer to follow their own scheme here.
This makes it all the more difficult for small and medium-sized companies to develop their own processes. At the same time, there is a lack of uniform standards for assessing recyclates. There is a need for political initiatives to safeguard our environment to have a much wider impact.
