Versalis and Montello – New polyethylene grades made from recycled packaging
02 October 2019
Versalis (Eni)
New polyethylene grades made from recycled packaging
Description
This project aims at producing a range of polyethylene products containing post-consumer plastics for a number of technical applications, including: thin packaging film, drip irrigation pipes, industrial bags and other types of packaging.
To truly close the plastics’ life-cycle, recycled plastics must be transformed into new raw materials for high-value applications: thanks to a proper recovery of plastics from municipal waste* and thanks to a specific mechanical recycling process, we obtained a high quality secondary raw material.
The industrial tests carried out so far show the possibility to produce a compound containing up to 70% of recycled plastics (r-PE).
*More specifically: polyethylene based plastic from municipal waste.
Added value
This project gives the opportunity to turn municipal post-consumer plastics into new high quality secondary raw material.
This new raw material can in fact be used in a wider range of applications, previously impossible to produce with recycled plastics. This project enables to save resources and improve sustainability of the whole value chain:
- By giving a second valuable life to post-consumer polyethylene products;
- By increasing the overall amount of products containing recycled plastics on the market.
Challenges
- To develop suitable formulations and processes able to produce new grades with high performances.
- The support from institutions is crucial to encourage the purchase and use of products containing recycled material.
Partners
The project is developed in partnership with Montello S.p.A., whose line of business currently includes – inter alia – the sorting, recovery and recycling of post-consumer plastic packaging.