Fraunhofer aids recycling of composite plastic materials

Polylactide (PLA) is becoming a more important industrial plastic and Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV said it has shown that combustion and composting, the two standard recycling methods used, are not the only options for recycling plastic packaging made of renewable raw materials.

Due to the growing amount of PLA waste, Fraunhofer IVV is evaluating the process chain for PLA recycling, including possible effects of PLA on the recycling of other plastics.

The envisaged process will allow pure PLA, PLA-containing fractions, PLA composites, and blends to be separated from packaging waste and processed into PLA recyclates which can be used for manufacturing packaging for non-food applications and consumer goods.

Recycling of EPS waste into re-expandable polystyrene Expanded polystyrene (EPS), known as Styropor, is mainly treated thermally to recover heat.

This is because contaminated EPS waste, originating from the packaging industry and sometimes containing fire retardants, cannot be effectively recycled due to poor purification and recycling efficiency of processes developed.

It offers purification and is able to produce virgin-quality re-expandable polystyrene from EPS waste.

CreaSolv will be presented at K 2013 in Düsseldorf on 16-23 October.