Plastic Waste : Bakcycle recycles flexible packaging with TOMRA tech

Founded by Bakioğlu Holding, a trailblazer in Türkiye’s packaging sector with over five decades of expertise, Bakcycle Recycling commenced operations in late 2023. The company transforms post-consumer low-density polyethylene (LDPE) packaging waste—primarily sourced from municipal and packaging waste sorting facilities—into granules that replace virgin raw materials. These granules are integral to flexible packaging production. The Izmir-based facility, equipped with TOMRA’s state-of-the-art sensor-based sorting systems, delivers exceptional accuracy and purity in sorting mixed flexible packaging waste, addressing a vital industry need.

Spanning 20,000 m², the Bakcycle facility targets the annual conversion of approximately 8,000 tons of domestic LDPE waste into superior-quality recycled LDPE (rLDPE) granules. Plans are in place to double this capacity over the next two years. These high-grade granules are supplied to flexible packaging manufacturers, aiding them in meeting recycled content goals for non-food applications.

The inherent complexity of flexible packaging—often made up of layers of materials like polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP)—poses substantial recycling hurdles. Each material must undergo distinct processing, and many recycling facilities lack the necessary infrastructure for handling post-consumer LDPE materials. Additionally, the lightweight nature of flexible packaging complicates recycling efforts, frequently relegating these materials to lower-value products.

Övünç Dirik, General Manager of Bakcycle Recycling, highlighted the sector's challenges, stating, "Despite the rapid growth of the flexible packaging sector, its recovery rates lag behind those of other packaging types like PET or HDPE due to these recycling difficulties. We aimed to address this gap, and we have succeeded in establishing Türkiye's first facility, which encompasses processes such as optical sorting, hot washing, extrusion with laser filtering, and odor removal. TOMRA’s optical sorting systems enable pre-sorting of unwanted fractions from the input waste and sort waste by material type and color."

The facility’s processing line features three AUTOSORT™ SPEEDAIR systems at the start, followed by two AUTOSORT™ units. The AUTOSORT™ SPEEDAIR systems, designed for film applications, enhance the efficient recycling of lightweight flexible packaging, while the versatile AUTOSORT™ units perform additional sorting tasks.

In the sorting phase, the first two AUTOSORT™ SPEEDAIR systems separate transparent LDPE from other materials. The third unit distinguishes transparent LDPE from transparent LLDPE, aided by a steady airflow that ensures stability on the high-speed conveyor. Subsequently, the AUTOSORT™ units sort mixed-color and white LDPE. As a result, Bakcycle Recycling achieves an impressive purity level exceeding 98%, thanks to TOMRA’s advanced technology.

The adoption of TOMRA Insight has transformed Bakcycle’s optical sorting systems into connected devices. By leveraging this cloud-based data platform, the company streamlines sorting operations while improving transparency and data management. TOMRA Insight enables precise assessments of material quality and provides real-time analysis of production material loss.

Oral Çimsöken, Sales Manager Emerging Markets at TOMRA Recycling Sorting, emphasized TOMRA’s involvement in the project, stating, "TOMRA took an active role in every step of the process, from feasibility studies to the design phase, and continues to provide after-sales support. The Bakcycle Recycling project is an important initiative showing how advanced technology can help increase the use of recycled content in flexible packaging production. By bringing our modern technologies together, we ensure that the recycled LDPE in the final product meets the standards that end customers expect."

Övünç Dirik concluded by underscoring the importance of precision in recycled material use, saying, "Using recycled material in LDPE film production is delicate work—any tiny mistake can be easily spotted, so our expectations of quality are very high. TOMRA’s advanced sensor-based sorting systems address these challenges, enhancing the quality of the recycled output and speeding up operations. The high-purity recycled granules we produce are again used in flexible packaging, keeping these valuable resources in a loop while avoiding the energy consumption needed for primary production."