BASF is set to showcase its continued plastics journey towards a circular economy and sustainable management of plastics at the Plastics Recycling and Sustainability Conference Europe (PRSE) 2023. The conference, which is held from 10-11 May 2023 at RAI, Amsterdam, brings together industry leaders, innovators, and experts to discuss the latest opportunities and challenges that face the plastics recycling industry in Europe.
At PRSE, stand D32, BASF presents its latest initiatives and solutions to promote the circular economy of plastics. The company showcases its high-performance solutions and complementarity approach in the field of mechanical and chemical recycling with the aim of reducing the amount of plastic waste which goes unrecycled.
In addition, BASF and its subsidiary trinamiX will be joining the show’s conference to share insights into the latest circular plastics technologies and solutions. Dr. Jens Hamprecht, Director Global Plastics Steering Committee at BASF, and Adrian Vogel, Business Development Manager at trinamiX, will host a session titled "How to close the recycling gap together?" (May 10, 2:20-2:40pm).
Complementary solutions for mechanical recycling on one platform
BASF offers a range of product technologies to enable and improve the mechanical recycling process. The solutions from plastic additives, trinamiX and Chemetall are integrated on a newly designed platform: mechanicalrecycling.com
Additives designed to meet the challenges of circularity of plastic packaging
Additives enhance the circularity of plastics and enable polymers to go through multiple cycles. The IrgaCycle range of additives can help increase post-consumer recycled content of plastic in several end-use applications such as packaging, automotive & mobility, and building & construction. They also mitigate common challenges associated with recycling resins such as limited processability and rejuvenate the stabilizing additive package that may be depleted during the package’s first lifecycle. BASF leverages its extensive experience in the plastic industry to select suitable additive solutions and provide technical recommendations to help customers reach their recycling goals. The IrgaCycle range is part of the Valeras portfolio, the brand name under which BASF markets its range of sustainable plastic additive solutions.
On-the-spot identification of plastic types for enhanced sorting
A key piece to establishing circularity lies in the first step of the recycling process: a clean sorting of plastic waste. To ensure a high commercial value of the separated waste, it is important to know the type of polymer that constitutes the discarded plastic waste. With its Mobile NIR Spectroscopy Solution, BASF subsidiary trinamiX enables flexible on-the-spot identification, ensuring clean plastics waste streams across recycling facilities. Demos of the solution will be performed at trinamiX’s booth G3.
Cutting-edge cleaning solutions from Chemetall for mechanical recycling of plastics
The Surface Treatment global business unit of BASF's Coatings division, operating under the Chemetall brand, offers formulated and integrated cleaning agents, aimed at enhancing quality, productivity and safety of plastics recycling processes. Chemetall’s product range of cleaning solutions, wetting agents and defoamers covers the entire washing and wastewater treatment process for plastics and PET recycling and complies with the strictest quality regulations. Gardoclean, Gardobond additives, Gardo Pure and Gardofloc are set to be the gold standard in optimizing the washing and wastewater treatment processes.
As a result, safe cleaning of the plastic waste is achieved and, at the same time, the consumption of water and cleaning agents is reduced, as most of the water can remain in the system's cycle, be recycled, and reused several times. Chemetall technologies are compatible with food industry requirements, suitable for multilayer packaging films such as LDPE or HDPE and remove all types of adhesives effectively and efficiently.
