Recycled plastics

Over the last 75 years, our societies have produced more than 8 billion tonnes of plastics on a worldwide scale, equivalent to the weight of 822,000 Eiffel Towers. 6.3 billion tonnes of this material has gone to waste, only 9% has been recycled.

 

Over the last 50 years, the use of plastic has increased twenty-fold, and some consumer products now contain more than 50 different plastic resins.

 

Producing 1 tonne of recycled plastic saves 5 barrels of petroleum and the equivalent of 1.6 tonnes of CO₂.

 

Increasing the share of recycled materials in your plastic packaging is a major target that will help to protect the environment and the oceans, while also improving your energy and environmental performances.

We have a strong command of all the techniques used to recycle plastics from bottles, flasks, plastic film, technical industrial plastics, etc., inluding the most complex techniques, such as the production of food-grade recycled plastics. Our solutions cover the complete value chain, producing a secondary raw material of the very highest standard.

 

Collecting and sorting: the waste is collected in specially adapted containers, then carefully sorted using advanced technologies (near-infrared optical sorting to separate plastic materials from one another and by colour too) to be recovered as top-quality recycled raw materials.

 

Recovery: advanced separation techniques (optical sorting, laser sorting, electrostatic sorting, hot washing, crushing, micronisation and granulation-filtration) are used to give new life to the waste as products (pellets, flakes and powder) that can be used directly in your production processes.

SUEZ set up the unique Plast’lab^® laboratory, based on the development of a number of partnerships within the plastic processing industry in order to meet precise specifications. Plast’lab^® analyses, characterises and tests recycled plastics in order to formulate new ranges of quality plastics ensuring they meet your requirements (impact resistance, flexural modulus, rheology, heat resistance, etc.) and to anticipate the needs of the future.

Video: Plast’lab^®: How to recycle more plastic?

Credit for header image: Getty Images