Key Highlights:
- BASF continues its presence at Plastics Recycling Show Europe 2024, showcasing its mechanical and chemical recycling solutions.
- The company improves sorting, cleaning, processing and the quality of recyclates with its near-infrared technology.
- Its ChemCycling uses plastic waste-based as a feedstock to create high-performance recycled materials.
BASF will participate in Plastics Recycling and Sustainability Conference Europe (PRSE) 2024 to showcase its initiatives and solutions for promoting a circular plastics economy.
Taking place on June 19-20 at RAI Amsterdam, the conference will serve as a platform for industry leaders, innovators and experts to discuss the latest advancements and challenges in the European plastics recycling sector.
Specifically, BASF will present its holistic approach to mechanical and chemical recycling, aiming to reduce the amount of unrecycled plastic waste.
During the conference, the company will host a session titled "Driving evolution in plastics recycling with novel technologies” on June 20. Carlo Bouwmeester, global business development Plastics Recycling at Chemetall, and Denis Savchenko, key industry manager Plastic Recycling in EMEA & SA at Chemetall, will discuss the challenges of recycling and present circular plastics technologies and solutions.
Cleaning solutions from Chemetall
Chemetall, the Surface Treatment global business unit of BASF's Coatings division, offers cleaning agents specifically designed for mechanical plastics recycling that enhance the quality, productivity, and safety of recycling processes.
Chemetall's specialities lie in delaminating and deinking multi-layered and surface-printed plastic packaging. This is done by effectively removing ink and separate layers of plastics such as PE and PET, thus maintaining the integrity of the recycling stream.
By utilising Chemetall's cleaners, plastics recyclers can optimise the washing and wastewater treatment processes in waste cleaning. This contributes to the reduction of water and energy and ultimately promotes a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to plastics recycling.
Chemtall's product range consists of Gardoclean, Gardobond additives, Gardo Pure, and Gardofloc which cover the entire washing and wastewater treatment process for various plastics like PET, PE, and PP. These cleaners effectively remove contaminants while maintaining food-grade safety for the final recycled products.
Improving recycled plastic quality
At PRSE 2024, BASF will be presenting its customised additive solutions for various polymers designed to address challenges that arise when working with recycled plastics. These include reducing gel formation in film processing and performance degradation in recycled materials such as automotive parts.
BASF's expertise in polymer stabilisation and mechanisms allows them to develop targeted solutions for different recyclates, ensuring high-quality results for consumer and durable goods.
Chemical recycling with ChemCycling
Alongside mechanical recycling, BASF also showcases its chemical recycling solution, ChemCycling.
Utilising plastic waste-based feedstock, ChemCycling produces high-performance products. The process relies on a mass balance approach to ensure that a specific portion of recycled content is in certified Ccycled products. These Ccycled products can be processed like conventional materials and are used in various applications, from food packaging to automotive parts.
Accelerating waste sorting technology
trinamiX GmbH, a provider of mobile spectroscopy solutions and subsidiary of BASF, will showcase their mobile NIR (Near-Infrared) technology for identifying and sorting plastics - from designing sortable packaging to improving sorting accuracy for better recycling.
Adrian Vogel, segment lead circular economy at trinamiX, will share insights about “How Mobile NIR Spectroscopy enables an efficient recycling value chain” during a presentation.
Resycure – an impactful marketplace for recycled polymers
The focus on establishing a circular economy goes beyond BASF's internal solutions. Thus, Resycure, BASF's smart B2B marketplace platform, connects brands and converters with high-quality recycled plastic suppliers.
The platform makes it easy to buy & sell, test and use recycled polymers, encouraging the use of recycled materials and in turn, reduces plastic waste and CO2 emissions.