Nextek Ltd July 2017 Prof. Edward Kosior - Sustainable plastics packaging solutions
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Sustainable plastics packaging solutions
- the best it can be
Prof. Edward Kosior
Nextek Ltd July 2017
25%col.
50%col. rPP 50%clear
rPP rPP
100% 25%clear
Virgin rPP
PP
NEXTEK Ltd - What we do • Recycling plant design and Feasibility studies. 20+ years experience of high-tech recycling PET, rPP and HDPE. • Strategic advice to Multi-National Corporations and Recycling Co inc product design (Water, Carbonated, Beer, Personal Care) • Food grade recycling of post consumer plastics – rHDPE, rPET, rPP. Unique in UK and Europe • Research and development of novel materials, processes and LCA including bioplastics. Active in coffee cup recycling and Ocean plastics. • Business support, productivity improvement and problem solving in recycling plants • Ground breaking projects for governments and major commercial organisations in the EU, UK, India, Malaysia, USA, South America, Middle East, North Africa and Australia/NZ • Strong ties to Universities and Scientific Centres of Excellence in the UK and Europe 2
Nextek Limited Public Project Listing
Creating Sustainable Solutions in Polymers & Recycling
ª Development of PET HDPE recycling plant for ª Research and development to improve the recyclability of
mixed plastics packaging (2008)
Closed Loop Recycling in London, UK
ª Commercial Scale Mixed Plastics Recycling Trial (2008)
ª Development of a Food grade PET Recycling
ª Removable Colour Systems for Packaging (2009)
Process (2005)
ª Development of NIR Detectable Black Plastics (2010)
ª Large Scale Demonstration of Viability of
ª Recycling of Commingled Post-Consumer Films (2010)
Recycled PET (rPET) in Retail Packaging (2005)
ª Design of a PET and HDPE food grade recycling plant for
ª Reduction in Household Waste originating from Sydney, Australia (2011-2012)
Beverage Packaging Waste (2006)
ª Development and demonstration of a Food Grade
ª Large Scale Demonstration trial of recycled HDPE Recycling Process for Post-Consumer PP (2011 and 2012)
into Milk Bottles (2006) ª Improving rPET Food Grade Quality for packaging (2012)
ª Development of light weight compostable ª Design of Plastic Bag film recycling plant London (2013)
packaging for Supermarkets (2007) ª Machine readable Inks (2014)
ª Light weighting of PET bottles (2007) ª Development of odour free recycling for HDPE (2014)
ª Bio-based Light-weight Trays for food packaging- ª Fluorescent markers for sorting packaging (2015)
3 year DTI/TSB project (2007-2010) ª Design of PET Recycling Plant - sheet production (2015)
ª Recycling of Paper Plastic Composites (2008) ª Coffee cup recycling UK 2016
ª Innovate UK project PRISM (2016)
ª Household Mixed Plastic Packaging Sorting (2007) ª Innovate UK – Malaysia Safebiopack (2016)
ª Innovate UK – India BioFreshpak (2016)
ª Feasibility Mixed Plastics Recycling Plants for UK
(2008)
3 Copyright Nextek Limited 2012
Nextek - Making plastic packaging the best it can be
• Brand Owners want to improve the sustainability of
the plastic packaging designs considering weight,
materials, recyclability, carbon emissions and
secondary packaging.
0% 50% 100%
• Nextek specialises in the practical, innovative and rPET
commercial aspects of developing plastic packaging with
improved sustainability and recyclability.
• Our knowledge of packaging materials and processing is
backed up with a detailed scientific understanding of the
key principles involved in recycling and processing as well
as LCA.
• This allows Nextek to develop solutions that are practical,
business focused as well as innovative. We have been
acknowledged by awards for world firsts.
• Nextek has extensive experience in delivering services and
projects for packaging development in the UK and
internationally to governments, retailers and brand owners.
4 Copyright Nextek Limited 2016
Recycling Plant Design – Case studies • Nextek investigates market opportunities and commercial feasibility with sensitivity analysis to local operating conditions. • Nextek has special capability in high quality food grade rPET and food grade rHDPE recycling processes. • Nextek has developed the first post consumer plastic food grade PP recycling process. • Nextek has developed high volume primary and secondary market applications in international markets. • Nextek develops customized plant designs to process locally available input material • Nextek assists in plant commissioning and optimization of new and existing plants. 5 Copyright Nextek Limited 2017 – COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE
Nextek Experience: Making every PET bottle the best it can be
• Nextek is a specialist in PET, HDPE and PP recycling with developments
in recycled packaging for each of these materials. We know how good it
can get and how to improve current practices. We have published many
reports on these topics that have boosted the sustainability of UK
packaging. As examples of relevant work: 2L reduced
from 44g to 40 g
0.5L reduced
• WRAP study on PET bottle light-weighting and UK benchmarking from 25g to 20g
• Belu water bottles conversion from PLA to 50% rPET.
• European PET Bottles Platform (EPBP) “Protocol for PET bottle recycling”
• Emma & Toms 100% rPET juice bottles - Bottle development and LCA.
• WRAP study ”Improving rPET quality for use in UK packaging”
• Design and commissioning of new PET recycling operations making rPET
being used at 100% in water and other applications.
• Nextek has experience in other packaging materials and supply chains
that can be used to broaden the scope of improvements for Innocent
100% rPET 50% rPET
PLA 46% C saving
Evaluation
6 Copyright Nextek Limited 2016
Recycled HDPE for A CIRCULAR ECONOMY • The key requirements are • 1. CONSISTENCY IN ALL PROPERTIES • 2. NEUTRAL COLOUR THAT CAN BE USED IN ALL PRODUCTS • 3. CONSTANT COMPOSITION (CONSTANT MELT FLOW INDEX AND COLOUR) • 4. CONSTANT MECHANICAL PROPERTIES • 5. LOW ODOUR • 6. PRICE comparable to VIRGIN RESIN (but not necessarily much lower!) • (rHDPE for other markets such as pipes will only reach approx 2/3 of virgin resin) • CAN WE DO IT RIGHT NOW ??? • No – for Food grade, but, YES – Non-Food grade 7
Food Grade HDPE Recycling Process Summary
Key steps
• The bottles must be 99% prior food use bottles.
Decontamination process- all steps contribute
• Sorting of bales of plastic bottles into natural HDPE stream
• The bottles are size reduced to flakes, washed at high temperatures , colour sorted,
decontaminated at 120C for >2 hours and extruded under vacuum into pellets.
• HDPE pellets were blended with virgin HDPE to manufacture bottles to a maximum of
50% based on the USFDA Letter of Non Objection
• History
• Production since 2009 by Closed Loop Recycling and Biffa Polymers at total of >60,000
tonnes and at 20%, blended to produce 120,000 tonnes of bottles or 30 billion bottles
over 6 years with migration compliance for each batch and zero customer complaints.
• EFSA submission lodged in 2009 (Biffa) and 2010 (CLR)
8
Food Grade PP Recycling Process Summary
• Optimised super cleaning processes in melt and solid state
• “Challenge test” modified to include the low volatility
fragrances in spiked virgin PP
• Final resin meets USFDA and EFSA specifications
• Prioritised Process:
• Control of Residence time under vacuum
• Very high surface area, and surface renewal rates during
extrusion step
Food Grade PP products
50% col. rPP
25%col.
50% col. rPP 25% col. rPP
with 1% 50%col. rPP 50%clear
masterbatch rPP rPP
100% Virgin PP 25% clear. rPP 50% clear. rPP
100% 25%clear
Virgin rPP
PP
50% col. rPP 25% col. rPP 50% clear. rPP 25% clear. rPP
10PCR HDPE in Laundry Bottles 11
Rigid Black Tray Packaging in Mixed Plastics MRF Residue Streams – 70,000 t/yr in UK Black pots, tubs and trays are typically colored with carbon black masterbatch based pigments. Carbon black readily absorbs visible and infra-red light. Majority of the sorting systems around the world use NIR (Near-Infra Red) to identify and sort plastic packaging by polymer type. So black trays are invisible.
NIR Detection of Commercially Available
Detectable Black Plastic Trays in the UK
• Commercial carbon black trays from UK retailers were tested
using NIR, MIR and Laser based Spectroscopy
• rPET, APET, CPET, HIPS, PP, Starch material black trays
tested
• Extensive tests performed at several leading sorting
equipment suppliers in GermanyCPET (for ready meals) sorting trials • Detectable black trays could also be identified as CPET by NIR making it possible to separate CPET into its own stream for closed loop recycling of detectable black CPET materials. Spectra and Pixel map of APET bottle and black tray Quantitative +ve separation of black trays (TITECH) 14
The Protocol for the PRISM project - coding of packs by polymer-type AND RECENT APPLICATION 15 Copyright Nextek Limited 2016
Video Sorting food grade sleeve selected from mixed plastics https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tjif2xcoy4k2dq1/AA DX5DzoJ2d5fa-2gRCuVve-a?dl=0 The video can be seen by following the link 16 Copyright Nextek Limited 2012
Press Release.. 17
Novel Paper Plastic Composites (PPCs) from extruded Paper
Plastic Laminates (PPLs)
• Up to 40wt.% PPL flakes have been incorporated into a
polymer matrix to form composites with improved
mechanical properties.
• The use of PPL flakes derived from disposable cups for
reinforcing plastics is a resource efficient alternative that
may have significant environmental benefits compared to
current disposal options.
• PPCs have potential to compete in the WPC market.
18Management Team 19 Copyright Nextek Limited 2017 – COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE
Management Team
Australia India
20 Copyright Nextek Limited 2017 – COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCEManagement Team
United Kingdom United Kingdom
21 Copyright Nextek Limited 2012Management Team
United Kingdom India
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