Circular Solutions for Flexibles announced the five finalists in the running for its $3 million Alliance Prize for film recycling.
After an in-person pitch event at the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 29, one company that presents a “scalable, innovative solution that extracts a high value of high-quality, fit-for-purpose recyclates from flexible films found in household waste” will be awarded the money, according to Circular Solutions.
The five finalists are Netherlands-based Blue Plastics, Austrian GAW Technologies and U.K. companies Impact Recycling, Mura Technology and Nextek.
Blue Plastics is in the running for the award for its CleanBlueTech, a solvent-based washing technology that creates near-virgin quality re-granulates from used flexible films, according to the Circular Solutions website. CleanBlueTech provides a 70% energy savings and uses no water. It can be integrated into both new and existing recycling lines.
GAW Technologies submitted its CreaSolv process, which can selectively dissolve polymers out of a stream of mixed post-consumer flexible packaging films and then purify, stabilize and convert them into pellets, without thermal or mechanical degradation.
A household flexible film recycling plant is Impact Recycling’s submission. The plant is a commercial-scale, 25,000-ton demonstrator baffled oscillation separation system (BOSS-2D) that uses a water-based density separation technology to separate multi-layer flexible films from mono-layer films. The mono-layer is then turned into consumer-grade film using the company’s Plastic Recycling Enhancer (PRE) additive.
Mura Technology Limited is competing with its HydroPRS Chemical Recycling Process, which uses flexible, multilayered and food-contact films to create hydrocarbon products for packaging, lubricants and bitumen.
Another waterless process, Nextek is showcasing its COtooCLEAN Process that recycles polyolefin films using low-pressure supercritical CO2 and green co-solvents to remove oils, fats and printing inks, “effectively decontaminating polyolefin films back to food-grade standards,” the submission noted.
