This practical workshop took place on Monday, 14.06.2021, at Zukunftsmeile 2 in Paderborn.
Recycled materials, especially post-consumer recycled materials (PCR), are excellent in terms of mechanical characteristics, but inferior to virgin materials in terms of the decorative quality of the surface. Here, many customers are not willing to compromise on quality. Even if post-industrial goods have clear advantages over PCR in terms of cleanliness and grade purity, there are also limitations here if, for example, rejects show significant material degradation or a coating.
Dr.-Ing. Matthias Hopp from the Plastics Technology Institute of the University of Paderborn presented the political and legal framework conditions and requirements that can be expected in the field of plastics and recyclates in the coming years. In particular, he emphasised the increase in the proportion of recyclates for the packaging, automotive and construction sectors from 2022, as required by the amendment to the EU's Green Deal. In concrete terms, this means that additional sectors must prepare for the use of recyclates and this demand must also be met by recyclers.
In the discussion with the company representatives, the challenges for the use of recyclate were the fluctuating quality as well as impurities, the price and often also the colour. These factors make the use of recyclates difficult for certain fields of application or even impossible in some cases. The requirements of the REACH regulation also set a high standard for recyclate purity, which is difficult to achieve in some cases. All in all, there are many reservations on the part of user companies about actually using recycled materials.
Axel Baranek from FVH Folien Veredelung Hamburg and Jochen Ebbing from Lobbe Industrieservice GmbH gave an overview of the current status in the area of plastic recyclates with regard to quality, quantity and supply capability. Due to the current supply bottlenecks for virgin material last year, the sales market for recyclates has changed completely and could be expanded significantly. Customers were more open to the use of recyclates. This allowed the quality of the products produced by FVH to prove itself.
Even though there are currently no legal requirements for the use of recycled materials, most of the participating company representatives were of the opinion that recycled material quotas will become a relevant topic for them in the coming years.
Existing processing techniques such as sandwich injection moulding or multi-component technology can be used well for the processing of recyclates. For example, the recyclate can be used as a core component and laminated with a top layer of virgin material. This makes it possible to cover up the lower surface quality of the recyclates. In addition, processing the same type of plastic from recyclate enables good compatibility with virgin material.
The topic of product development / design for recycling was also addressed. Recycling-friendly product design makes it possible to significantly increase the quality of post-consumer recyclates (PCR) from the yellow bag. At the same time, the proportion of plastics that must be sent for thermal recycling can thus be minimised.
A need for research was formulated with regard to the availability and recycling of technical plastics such as PA and PC.
Conclusion: The plastics processing industry definitely has a need for plastic recyclates, provided they are of high quality and a consistent quality can be guaranteed.
A joint event by: University of Paderborn (KTP), InnoZent OWL e.V. & VDI - Association of German Engineers Ostwestfalen-Lippe e.V. in the context of CirQuality OWL, Lippe Zirkulär and Kunststoffe in OWL e.V.
