Novpol: A Big Boost for Plastics Recycling?

A new European program could potentially improve the economics of plastics recycling by a significant margin. Called Novpol, the goal of the project is to create a new plastic with enhanced mechanical and processing properties from a mixed stream of five types of plastic waste. For example, a car interior could be recycled as a whole, rather than being separated into different streams. The EU-supported consortium hopes to create a plastic that can command at least 80 percent the price of a virgin plastic. Eight different contractors are working on the project. The coordinator is an Italian company called Filtri Clean Technica in Milan. Key focus is developing homogenizing equipment that can produce 500 kg/hr of material The goal is to boost European plastic recycling rates from the current rate of 16.5 percent.