ReVise-Up

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ReVise-UP: Improving the process efficiency of mechanical recycling of post-consumer plastic packaging waste through intelligent material flow management

With about 3.2 million tons per year, post-consumer packaging waste represents the largest plastic waste stream in Germany. Despite previous efforts and progress, mechanical plastics recycling still shows significant potential for improvement: In 2021, only about 27 wt% (1.02 million Mg/a) of post-consumer plastics could be converted into recyclates, and only about 12 wt% (0.43 million Mg/a) served as a substitute for virgin plastics (Conversio Market & Strategy GmbH, 2022).

So far, mechanical plastics recycling has been limited by the high effort of manual material flow characterization, leading to a lack of transparency along the value chain. During the ReVise concept phase , it was shown that post-consumer material flows can be characterized automatically using inline sensor technology. The subsequent four-year ReVise implementation phase (ReVise-UP) will explore the extent to which sensor-based material flow characterization can be implemented on a commercial scale to increase transparency and efficiency in plastics recycling.

Three main effects are expected from this increased data transparency. First, positive incentives for improving collection and product qualities should be created to increase the quality and use of plastic recyclates. Second, sensor-based material flow characteristics will be used to adapt plastic sorting and recycling processes to fluctuating material flow properties. This promises a considerable increase in the efficiency of the existing technical infrastructure. Thirdly, the improved data situation should enable a holistic ecological and economic evaluation of the entire value chain. As a result, technical investments can be deployed in a more targeted manner to systemically optimize both ecological and economic benefits.

  Copyright: © ANTS Overview ReVise-UP Projekt

Our goal is to fundamentally improve the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability of post-consumer plastics recycling.