A company based in Swindon, UK called Recycling Technologies has come up with a way to melt down plastics that cannot currently be recycled including plastic bags, cling wrap, and other plastic wrap products.
Recycling Technologies has developed a machine they call the RT7000 that uses pyrolysis to convert mixed plastics back into an oil that can be used again to make new products. The plastics are heated in an oxygen-free environment and break down long hydrocarbon chains into shorter chains, eventually creating a wax.
The oil that is created is called Plaxx, an “ultra-low sulfur oil” that is separated into four fractions that can be sold individually or combined.
- Plaxx-8 can be used as a plastic feedstock.
- Plaxx-16 and Plaxx-30 can be used in both plastic feedstock and also used for fuel.
- Plaxx-50 can be used as a petroleum wax for packaging and cosmetics.
Recycling Technologies currently has a trial with 10 Tesco stores in the South West. Customers can bring their plastic bags, wrappers, and plastic packaging to these locations. From there they will be collected and sent to the company’s pre-production plant.
In an interview with the Telegraph Bronwen Jameson, company Head of Communications, spoke about the current operations and the plan moving forward:
We currently do it at a pre-production scale here in Swindon. We are planning our first commercial plant in Scotland next year. This will be the first of its kind in the UK. This machine should be able to be mass-produced and can be taken anywhere in the world. It’s transportable and we build it centrally for installation at waste plants around the world.
The RT7000 model is designed so that it can easily be shipped anywhere in the world by land or sea. The standard 20ft ISO shipping frame can easily be mass-produced and allows for fast on-site installations.
Recycling Technologies’ goal is to build 1300 RT7000 machines within the next decade, which they say could produce 7 million tons of Plaxx by 2027. The company has the goal of completely flipping the percentage of plastic that becomes recycled, pushing for 90% of plastic recycled versus the current rate of less than 10%.
Bernie Brannan, Corporate Director of the Swindon Borough Council, commented about the potential benefits of this technology;
“It is evident that this technology should have financial, environmental and economic benefits, not only for Swindon Borough Council but further afield as well.”
This technology will provide more of a circular economy where purchased products are used, recycled, reproduced, and reintroduced rather than ending up as waste.
Numbers from the company website show:
- For every ton of plastic processed by an RT7000 machine and diverted from the incineration process, it will reduce 1.8 tons of carbon equivalent.
- Each ton of Plaxx produced, 2.5 tons of carbon could be saved from displacing the need for fossil fuels.
Recycling Technologies has an ambition to install an additional 10 million tonnes of plastic recycling capacity to the world by 2027. The global fleet of RT7000s could save a total of 17 million tonnes of carbon equivalent, equating to almost 16,000 wind turbines, or enough electricity for 6.7 million houses per year.
