Ecoplasteam’s EcoAllene: a new 100% recyclable plastic product
28 February 2019
Ecoplasteam
Examples of objects that can be produced with EcoAllene
This is the finished product obtained at the end of the production process, EcoAllene
This is a photo of the Spinetta Marengo production plant, you can see in the foreground a big bag of EcoAllene , and in the background the production plant.
Description
Our activity is the recycling of composite packaging polyethylene – aluminium, commonly known as ”tetrapak”.
After paper mills take off the paper layer, Ecoplasteam melts, with an innovative process, the two layers of polyethylene and aluminium creating a new plastic material called EcoAllene, a new plastic product with reduced and homogenised aluminium inside.
EcoAllene is easy to process, constant in his technical characteristics, colourable, 100% from recycling process, traceable and 100% recyclable again. Another important feature is the constant availability of this material thanks to the large availability of raw material.
EcoAllene can be sold on the market at a competitive price with that of the virgin plastic. It can be used in the huge industry of plastic injection moulding to produce several products used in automotive, buildings, giftware and general tools markets.
Added value
Waste of polyethylene – aluminium amounts to about 350,000 tons per year in Europe. Each Ecoplasteam plant can process up to 7,500 tons of waste per year: so there is potential for almost 50 plants in Europe.
Each plant can produce about 6.000 tons of EcoAllene per year, with the following impact (estimated on the basis of analysis of a pilot plant built some years ago and on the factory specifications of our brand new plant):
- Recycling of 7.500 tons per year of waste (polyethylene – aluminium), that would otherwise be disposed or sent to incineration or disposal; cost of incineration saved (in case the waste is all sent to incineration) of
about 900.000 €; - Energy saving per kg of product: about 12.000 kcal per 1 kg of product, compared to energy needed for producing 1 kg of “virgin” plastics;
- Avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions: 4.700 tons of CO2 equivalent, per year.
Challenges
There are two main challenges for Ecoplasteam:
- There is currently a lack of “end of waste” regulation in Italy which could become a real problem, especially for possible new projects of polylaminates recycling, not depending on paper mills.
- Funds are needed to launch the development of other plants in addition to the first, already established in Alessandria (Italy). For each new plant an investment of about 6 million euros is required.
Partners
The main partners are ELLISSE S.r.l. – SITREBI RE S.r.l. – REPLAN GLOBL SAGL – SWISS MERCHANT ADVISORY S.r.l. – RTM S.r.l. – PR55 S.r.l. – STEFANO DEALESSI – TRAINING 4U S.r.l. – and other entrepreneurs.