GreenDot fuses mechanical and advanced recycling to extract polyolefin recyclates

06 Jun 2024 --- GreenDot is preparing to showcase a host of solutions for plastic waste at the upcoming Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRSE) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands (June 19 to 20). The plastic circularity advocacy group will present novel recyclates from a combination of mechanical and advanced recycling.

GreenDot combines recycling processes in a “unique way” to supply recyclates made from polyolefins for various applications, from simple products to food packaging. This combination on an industrial scale makes it possible to incorporate plastic waste that is currently only used to produce low-grade recyclates or incinerated to generate energy.

“We recycle polyolefin waste using pyrolysis to produce pyrolysis oil, which substitutes naphtha in the production of raw materials for new plastics,” Norbert Völl, press spokesman for GreenDot, tells Packaging Insights.

“Both the input and output are preferably polyolefins, which, apart from PET, make up the largest proportion of packaging plastics anyway.”

Novel recyclates for use in food packaging
GreenDot is also developing innovative recyclates for plastic waste that is not suitable for mechanical recycling and for the production of food-grade recyclates. 

Sunbites by PepsiCo has applied snack packaging containing 50% recycled plastic made by GreenDot.Several partners from across the flexible food packaging supply chain have worked together to launch a new, premium-quality snack packaging that contains 50% recycled plastic and meets stringent food contact requirements. 

This was introduced in new packaging for Sunbites, a PepsiCo snack brand, which was launched in the UK and Ireland in late 2023. The packaging is made by recycling plastic waste into food grade packaging material. 

This is done using an advanced recycling process, a complementary approach to mechanical recycling. This process enables the recycled materials to satisfy the demanding EU regulatory requirements for applications such as food-contact packaging, contact-sensitive devices and medical devices.

GreenDot has also agreed to a further partnership with PepsiCo, representing a “new approach for the value chain” to provide food-grade recyclates. 

“Transformation will not be possible without collaboration along the entire value chain. Ineos, for example, manufactures the polymers for plastics production,” says Völl.

“In order to use alternative materials as raw materials, the will to adapt processes and the willingness to embark on the journey is essential. This requires partnerships over a longer period of time, which we promote intensively and of which the agreement with PepsiCo is a good example.”

European regulatory landscape
The new European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) provides for different mandatory recyclate use quotas from 2030, depending on the type of packaging. The appropriate recycling infrastructure will need to be established over the next few years to achieve these targets. 

GreenDot’s growing network of sorting plants supplies raw materials for high-quality mechanical and chemical recycling. The group is actively involved in the entire value chain, from sorting collected plastic and packaging waste to pretreatment of feedstock and chemical recycling.

“We are building an international network of plants to provide the raw materials needed for the widespread use of these processes. This will enable our customers to meet the targets for the use of recyclates in packaging by 2030 at the latest,” says Laurent Auguste, CEO of GreenDot.

GreenDot exhibiting at PRSE.“GreenDot runs mechanical recycling plants in Germany, and also in Italy via a group of companies,” Völl tells us. “Triplast in Austria, which supplies raw materials for both mechanical and chemical recycling, will go online at the end of the month.”

Triplast — which entered the GreenDot network following Italy-based Synextra’s entry last year — is considered one of Europe’s “most modern” sorting plants for lightweight packaging waste, says Völl.

“Plants for chemical recycling are currently planned in France and Germany — it is still too early to provide more detailed information,” he notes. 

Recyclates from mechanical recycling
Within GreenDot’s portfolio, Systalen PP and LDPE recyclates, manufactured by GreenDot from mechanical recycling, are “suitable for both demanding and innovative applications” and come from household recycling collections in Germany.

GreenDot highlights that Systalen can replace virgin plastics in many applications. For example, a new generation of ink eraser pens from the brand Pelikan consists of 70% Systalen.

Moreover, recycled HDPE bottle-to-bottle grades are being offered from GreenDot’s joint venture production site Forplast in Italy. Forplast produces secondary raw materials from bottle and packaging waste, which are the raw materials for new HDPE containers.

By Benjamin Ferrer