Sustainable Plastics - July/August 2020 - 29

recycling

continued on page 27
that applies to packaging with
less than 30% recycled content has been a major incentive,
we are also seeing a real surge
of interest to face the plastics
waste issue head on and find
real, sustainable, long-term
solutions to this crisis.
NEXTLOOPP's mission is
crafted out of this need and
aims to create circular foodgrade PP from post-consumer
packaging. The goal is to establish a supply chain model
for the collection, sorting and
re-processing of food-grade
PP packaging. From there, we
aim to efficiently manufacture
high-quality and food-grade PP.
Over the next 24 months we
will shift from pilot to largescale operations to eventually
create rPP that can be used
across a wide range of applications and products to meet recycled packaging targets.

Innovative technologies

We already have the innovative technologies required to
decontaminate and sort. The
sorting technology alone is
poised to transform the way
recycling is managed as it has
the potential to identify and
sort all waste rapidly and efficiently and at very high purity. The PRISM marker-based
sorting technolo-gy has been

proven at full speed - even on
very soiled and damaged packaging. Furthermore, PRISM
can be readily implemented in
most recycling plants.
We also have developed powerful decontamination technologies with which we aim to redefine what is possible through
the reuse and recycling of PP. As
such, one of the first materials
NEXTLOOPP will manufacture
will be 'inert' grade PP.

First-of-its-kind
polymer type
We call it 'inert' as it will have no
odour and no migration challenges for many products. This
innovative high-quality polymer
will satisfy many demanding
applications ranging from the
packaging sector to the cosmetics industry.
Whilst our mission is to get
more food-grade material back
into food contact, the cut-

ting-edge technology boosts
the economics for the recycler
through the creation of high
value recycled PP for many
non-food contact applications
including cosmetics.

need immediate, functional
solutions. Mechanical recycling is the perfect low-cost,
highly efficient solution particularly when using high-quality
feedstock.

Mechanical versus
chemical

Finally

We now have the opportunity to
transform the existing recycling
and decontamination processes to boost economic efficiency
and reduce cost, and mechanical recycling makes perfect
sense to achieve this.
The ongoing debate around
mechanical versus chemical
recycling has divided many,
however, chemical recycling
has a higher carbon footprint
than mechanical recycling and
certainly requires more intensive capital per plant. Furthermore we are still some years
away before any large scale
plants are in operation and we

The next key steps towards
producing food-grade rPP for
re-use in consumer products
are the establishment of EFSA
and USFDA certification for
the manufacturing processes.
NEXTLOOPP aims to develop
new guidelines for food-grade
recycling for brand owners, retailers and converters. There
will be no middle measures to
ensure that the loop for PP gets
better with future cycles.
Creating and then closing the
loop on food-grade PP has taken 8 years of intense research
and commercial trials - now we
are poised to finally unlock the
value of one of the most versatile polymers yet.

The NEXTLOOPP project was launched during a webinar
hosted by Professor Edward Kosior on 23 June.
To view the webinar, go to https://youtu.be/3T1uMPZ0XX8
Professor Edward Kosior is the founder of Nextek, an independent consultancy that provide
solutions to the challenges of the plastic recycling and resource management throughout the
supply chain. For more information, https://www.nextloopp.com.

July/August 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T1uMPZ0XX8 https://www.nextloopp.com

Sustainable Plastics - July/August 2020

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