UK firm recycles plastics into oil cost-effectively
UK start-up Recycling Technologies has developed a technology that is capable of changing petroleum-based products such as polyester, cling film and electronics into oil. The process takes less than a second and produces a fuel called Plaxx that can be made back into plastic or used as fuel. The technology heats the plastic to around 500C, causing it to become a vapour. The recycling machine, the RT7000, is significantly smaller than other recycling systems and should yield a positive return on its £3m set-up costs in less than three years. 

Recycling Technologies, a startup located Swindon town in southwest England, wants “to change the history of plastic in the world” by turning plastic waste into oil.

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The startup, led by Adrian Griffiths, is testing a new technology that “churns all sorts of petroleum-based products back into oil,” Bloomberg News reported.

Recycling Technologies built a machine called RT7000 that uses a feedstock recycling technique, developed at Warwick University, to process plastic waste without the need for sorting.

The resulting fuel, called Plaxx, can be used to make plastic again or power ship engines, according to the publication.

“Plaxx is offered as light oil, wax and low sulphur heavy fuel oil, and is an ideal resource for a wide range of industrial applications, including as a synthetic source for fully recycled plastic,” according to Recycling Technologies.

Griffiths intends to mass produce the machine for leasing. The machine can fit into five shipping containers and can be moved to the site of the problem, like a beach.

“We want to change the history of plastic in the world,” Recycling Technologies CEO Griffiths was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

Plastic waste is a major problem worldwide. It poses serious environmental threats. It was a shocking news for me that plastic will outweigh fish in the oceans by 2050, according to a study presented at this year’s World Economic Forum by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Currently, globally, only 14% of plastic packaging is recycled. The remaining is being used to pollute land and sea.

Recycling Technologies is also involved in the New Plastic Economy, a three-year initiative driven by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to tackle global plastics issues.

“It [Recycling Technologies’ technology] could be a real game changer,” Patricia Vangheluwe, consumer and environmental affairs director at PlasticsEurope said. “This is a great way of getting plastics that you would not be able to recycle with current technology, or do that in an economic way, back into the circular economy.”

PlasticsEurope is a trade association representing more than 100 polymer producers, including BASF SE and Dow Chemical Co.