Waste Plastic Recycling & Upcycling: Revolutionizing the Lifecycle of Plastics
Plastics which are made from synthetic carbon-based polymers are ubiquitous in modern life. Recycling and upcycling of plastics can become efficient with the use of polymer and waste plastic taggants for authentication and traceability.
Average plastic production has increased by 36% in the past decade and is projected to grow to 700 million metric tons in 2030. Global statistics reveal that:
- 20% of discarded plastics are recycled
- 25% are incinerated for energy recovery
- 55% are deposited into landfills or released into the environment.
Thus, plastic waste poses a long-term environmental challenge
- Packaging (i.e., single use) is the largest application of plastics (40%)
- Polyolefins are the dominant plastic used in packaging (69%)
This is why governments and industry groups are moving toward circular economies for recycling and reusing plastics in consumer packaging. Companies are mobilizing considerable resources to help ensure that an ever higher percentage of plastic packaging is recycled.
Mechanical recycling degrades, or downcycles, the polymers to produce intermediates that can be used as building blocks to make new products. This offers the opportunity to turn discarded plastics into higher-valued products. Purity is key for producing high-quality recycled material, since they must behave like virgin polymers when processed.
Polymer upcycling also represents a new approach: selectively deconstructing polymers into chemicals, fuels, or molecular intermediates and coupling the deconstruction with reconstruction of these intermediates into high-value products under mild conditions. Upcycling holds the promise of revolutionizing the lifecycle of plastics while saving energy and reducing the environmental impact of plastics.
Challenges in Recycling and Upcycling of Plastics:
- Difficult to extract valuable products from “mixtures” of waste polymers
- Black plastic containers, colored with pigments that use carbon black, are currently very difficult to detect by sorting machines in recycling plants as they absorb the near infra-red (NIR) light used for sorting
- Compositional integrity. Presence of trace impurities and/or additives.
- Designing new polymers or processes with circularity – i.e. can be repeatedly deconstructed and remanufactured into polymers with desirable properties
- The designation or claim as upcycled plastic is prone to abuse to deceive both consumers and brand owners as upcycled plastics command a higher price on the market in general
Using Taggant Technology for A Circular Economy for Plastics
The concept of a circular economy is gaining traction all over the world. A circular system for plastics means keeping useful plastics in the economy and out of the environment.
One of the biggest hurdles to high volumes and quality of recycled plastics is the complexity of the packaging design. There are several examples where the design of packaging disrupts the recycling, either by making an item ‘invisible’ (e.g. black PET trays cannot be seen by detectors) or leading to false positives/negatives (e.g. the negative sorting of a full-sleeve PET bottle because the sleeve is typically made of a different material).
To improve automated detection and sorting, polymer and waste plastic taggant or tracer technology can be used. Tagging is accomplished by applying the chemical tracer to the label, sleeve, or to the plastic object itself.
The unique tracer signature / elemental signature also increases the selective sorting of end-of-life plastic products by providing a unique signature for polymer type and grade in complex mixtures. The waste plastic taggant is expected to emit a signature detectable only by special equipment. This would provide a reliable and efficient tagging system that could be deployed on a large scale and contribute to a circular economy for plastics in a global setting.
Here are several advantages of using taggant systems for plastics and polymers:
Manufacturers of Plastic Parts (Medical, Automotive, etc.):
Having a permanent tag that confirms whether:
- The plastic part that failed came from your plant—or not. The product can be traced back to its authentic batch.
- The plastic was made of the material grade or level of recycle content specified by the OEM—or not (e.g. a component with 25% PCR / post-consumer recycled material). The recycling content in an end product can be monitored. The use of incorrect materials can also be detected.
A quick and easy way to confirm that a plastic product carrying its brand is the real thing—or a counterfeit.
Waste Plastic Recycling & Upcycling
- Easier way to sort and identify the material composition of waste plastics
- Enable sorting of much higher granularity and quality
- Retrofitting existing sorting equipment with add-on modules for detection of taggants is less capital intensive intensive than upgrading with more sophisticated detection technology based on material properties
- Using markers would identify if “recycled” vs “virgin” material is used in certain products.
- Marking specific applications (e.g. HDPE caps) so that the material can be processed separately, retaining more of its value and potentially allowing it to be re-used in the same application.
- Compositional integrity: ability to demonstratively claim whether a product is 100% composed of a specific polymer type, or if 100% upcycled plastic or recycled plastic, or at any other percentage.
- Distinguish between food-grade and non food-grade polymers
MatriX-Mark™ Taggant Solution: Unique Chemical Markers/Tracers
With MatriX-Mark™ Taggants, NanoMatriX is introducing a product to address product authentication and security concerns across the lifecycle of plastics, polymers, and plastic parts.
This enables brands and manufacturers to have end-to-end product traceability of plastics and polymers which can also be used for authentication. This ensures that as materials pass from recycler to compounder to manufacturer and, eventually, to a retailer or consumer, they maintain their compositional integrity (e.g. 100% recycled, etc.)
Marking polymers used in consumer products can be used for traceability, anti-counterfeiting, and protecting against adulteration of virgin material with inferior ingredients.
Taggants or tracers are special invisible markers that provide plastics with an individual ‘signature’ that allows them to be traced and identified using sensors at every step, from production, through distribution, to end of life and the retrieval and recycling of materials as part of the circular economy.
The markers do not affect the properties or appearance of polymers or tagged products, are inert to shear forces, and can withstand demanding extrusion conditions. These taggants can be incorporated into all polymer types from polyethylene, PET, polypropylene, nylon, to other thermoplastic materials. Compatible with all polymer types.
Advantage of MatriX-Mark™ Taggants Over Other Taggants/Chemical Tracers
Our unique polymer and waste plastic taggants have specific advantages over other taggants currently in the market. For the sorting of plastics for recycling/upcycling as a case in point, here are some key advantages of our taggants.
Other Taggants (e.g. ordinary invisible UV-fluorescent material)
- Large volume of UV-fluorescent material required as it has to be present uniformly across all plastic surfaces = High Overall Cost
- UV-detection systems are considered to be expensive and have a high risk of 'misinterpreting' the UV colors (e.g. using same UV color at different concentration levels)
- Only suitable for one time recycling
- Risk is high that when different plastics are mixed, the different 'shades of blue/UV color' cannot be differentiated.
- Variation limited to different concentration levels or UV colors.
MatriX-Mark™Taggants
- Can be used at very low concentrations (detection down to 10 ppm is possible in clear and natural colored polymers).
- Even if the material is more expensive, the total cost when applied might be considerably cheaper
- Highly accurate detection systems are available, even for high speed sorting
- Different taggant models are available to differentiate plastic or polymer types. Infinite number of unique elemental signatures can also be generated.
- Usable over practically infinite use cycles and extrusions.
Matrix-Mark™ Taggant possesses strong chemical characteristics that make it a trusted solution to fight product counterfeiting.
These taggants have the following properties:
- For all printing technologies: Offset, rotogravure, flexo, screen, intaglio, inkjet, laser, TTP
- Inorganic: No performance impact by age or exposure to strong UV radiation
- Tough: Very robust and usable over practically infinite use cycles and extrusions.
- Chemical Resistant: Withstood chemical resistant tests even for banknote use
- Temperature Resistant: Melting point above 1000°C
- Small size: 500 nm to 5 micrometer (depending on application)– difficult to detect
- Complex Formulation: Extremely difficult to re-engineer
- Involves proprietary well researched methods of forensic detection Every taggant comes with a unique forensic feature that enables the trace element to be used as evidence in the court of law.
- Can be incorporated into polymers, Masterbatch, films, and extrusions. Compatible with all polymer types. Detection down to 10 ppm is possible in clear and natural colored polymers.
Here is our range of MatriX-Mark™ taggant solutions:
MATRIX-MARK™ PIGMENTS: COVERT & FORENSIC TAGGANTS
ULTRA-COVERT PIGMENTS
Digital particle analyzer for detection of taggants
MatriX-Mark™ security taggants are small particles which can be mixed into plastic materials or polymers at very low concentration. A special camera can be used to detect:
- If taggants/particles are present in the plastic material
- If the plastic material has been diluted with other material (e.g. to verify claim of 100% PCR/post consumer recycled plastic or any other percentage)
Forensic Feature (Legal enforceable evidence)
We can add to each project-specific taggant production a unique ‘elemental signature’. Elemental signatures can be verified by independent material science laboratories.
Note
- An infinitive number of elemental signatures can be generated.
- An independent laboratory can be contracted to determine whether or not the initial elemental signature can be found on the questionable product.
Forensic Signature – Laboratory Test Result Illustration
Innovative Taggant Applications
QC Application in Nano-coating
A nanotech foil manufacturer solved a quality control issue on a high-performance technical foil production line using taggants.
Problem:
The foil had to be coated with a very thin layer of clear invisible coating by distributing just a few grams of coating material evenly across one square meter. The issue is how the company could conduct a quality control of their foils so that they can be absolutely sure that the correct amount of clear coating is applied.
Solution:
As there is no known method to have an inline-measurement of the coating thickness of the particular coating, the R&D department had the idea to measure the thickness indirectly. They mixed into the clear coating a defined quantity of Matrix-Mark™ Taggants and installed at their coating line multiple Matrix-Mark™ inline detection systems.
Result:
With this, the foil manufacturer was able to guarantee the clear coating layer thickness by measuring the particle density of the Matrix-Mark™ Taggants.
Marking Waste Plastics from Environmental Clean-ups
An NGO marks waste plastics recovered from environmental clean-up efforts with taggants to guarantee claim of companies with products designated as using the waste plastic materials.
Problem:
Recovered waste plastics are processed into granules/intermediates to derive other higher value products from these plastics. Companies who use these recycled plastics are allowed to use a symbol to indicate they are part of the environmental clean-up effort. The issue is how the NGO can guarantee they are using the recycled plastic or if they are using virgin material.
Solution:
Mixing the taggant into the plastic granules so that later on the NGO can use a Matrix-Mark™ detector to find out whether or not a company with products using their symbol indeed used the recycled plastic.
Result:
The NGO is able to guarantee the results of their clean up efforts in a quick and easy way. They can monitor the recycling content in end products using their recycled plastics. They are also able to detect the use of incorrect materials.
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