Circular Economy in Plastic Production : The recycling challenges and solutions in plastic production

Sammanfattning: The consequences of the linear economy of plastic production has started to show. Media reports of "plastic seas," beaches full of waste, and habitats and environments destroyed. The question on how to make plastic production more circular have been a hot topic. Every year 311 million tonnes of plastic gets produced around the world. The plastics that can be recycled are thermoplastics. 70% of all produced plastic is made from five different plastic materials, PVC, PET, EPS, PP, and HDPE. Of the total of 311 million tonnes 87 million tonnes of that plastic is plastic packages for household consumers. Of that 87 million tonnes 32% of that is never collected, ending up in the oceans. Sweden is doing well compared to most countries, 99% of all plastic in Sweden is collected. The number is much thanks to all the regulations, recycling organs, and producer requirements that are active in Sweden compared to many other countries. This report is going to point out some important challenges and its solutions to move towards a globally circular economy. Sweden still faces challenges. Of all plastic collected only 50% goes into recycling while the other 50% ends up for incineration to energy recovery, to warm up houses and give electricity to cities. There are four different methods of recycling in facilities today. Closed - loop Open - loop Chemical recycling Energy recovery through incineration Closed - loop recycling is when the recycled product ends up as the same product after the recycling process while open - loop is when something gets recycled to a plastic product with a lower value than the original product. Chemical recycling is when chemicals in the plastic are extracted and recycle these, usually for fuels. Energy recovery through incineration is when plastic waste is burnt down to recover the energy stored in the plastic. The most common recycling methods in Sweden are open-loop recycling and energy recovery through incineration. One plastic container differs from the rest. The PET - bottles. Of all plastic bottles 85% are collected and recycled in Sweden much thanks to the deposit-refund system available in Sweden. Plastic bottles often follow a process called URRC process, which is a full process from collecting plastic bottles to selling clean plastic flakes that can be renewed to new plastic bottles. Sweden is building the largest recycling facility in Europe, with a technology called "Near-echnology" which is a technology with Near-infrared light to efficiently sort out coloured and clear plastic as well as type of material and chemical compound. This technology will help the facility sort out more than 50% plastic waste compared to other facilities in Europe, an essential step toward a circular economy. Another meaningful action is in the form of global and international producer recommendations, where strict regulation regarding production, design, and materials are agreed upon that favours packaging improving its recycling abilities. These regulations come from the recycling companies such as Returpack and Plastkretsen.