Research : Unused potential: Fraunhofer LBF tracks down quality improvements for plastics
The potential of material recycling is considerable in theory, but in practice it is still the case that less than two million tons of recyclate are produced from over six million tons of plastic waste in Germany (post-consumer and post-industrial waste). According to the Conversio study, the share of recyclates in the processing of plastics is currently still less than 15 percent of the total volume.
Since plastics are refined from crude oil and crude oil is only available in limited quantities, plastics must be kept in a cycle as long as technically possible. By landfilling or incineration, the monomeric or molecular information contained in the plastic is lost. Depending on the requirements for processing and the type of plastic, between 20 and 50 percent more energy must be used to produce recyclates than for virgin materials. At the same time, end-user interest and awareness around recycled plastics is growing. Increasing the recycled content also contributes to several of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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Towards more circularity
The circularity of plastics already found in the use phase, however, goes considerably beyond mere collection, sorting and reprocessing in its complexity. On the way to true material circularity, there are still significant obstacles and issues in many cases that stand in the way of a higher recyclate quota. Determining what proportion of recyclate is involved, whether it is recyclate at all or whether it is virgin material after all, is of key importance to the user and often requires specific technical and methodological knowledge. The question of whether recyclates are equal to virgin material in terms of performance is also of great importance: What is expected in terms of parameters such as strength, long-term stability and processability? What are the differences in life and service life for recyclates compared to virgin material? Where in the manufacturing process can quality improvements be specifically introduced so that recycled materials do not lag behind virgin materials?
Scientists from the Fraunhofer LBF have been researching these questions for a long time so that the potential of recycled plastics can soon be exploited economically and comprehensively. Fraunhofer is organizing a German-language, virtual, free seminar on April 22, 2021, aimed at interested parties from all areas of plastics development, calculation and testing.