Recycling plastic began in the 1970s, 20 years after the material’s ubiquitous acceptance into everyday life. But yesterday’s recycling couldn’t keep up with our plastic consumption then—and it can’t keep pace with the fast-moving world of today.
In 1950, global plastic production was around 2 million metric tons. In 2020, according to Statista, total global plastic production was around 367 million metric tons—and that was a slight reduction from the previous years due to COVID-19’s impact on the plastics industry.
With all that new plastic released into circulation, you’d think a lot of it would be recycled—but it’s not. Only a fraction of all of the plastic created each year is collected for recycling in the first place, and most of what is isn’t actually recycled. As a result, most plastics make their way into landfills and eventually into the environment—increasing global waste and pollution on both the land and in the sea.
Since 1992, more than half of the higher-income countries’ plastic waste intended for recycling has been exported to hundreds of lower-income countries for processing, with the lion’s share of that going to China. This provided an outlet for managing plastic waste, preventing it from going to landfill or incineration, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
But China’s 2018 National Sword policy is changing that. Before the policy, the country’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment says that it imported 42.27 million metric tons of dirty and mixed recyclables at its peak in 2017—and most of that was too dirty to recycle. A 2018 report in Yale Environment 360 indicated that, even before the ban, less than 13% of plastics the country imported were recycled or burned. The rest went to landfills or ended up in rivers and oceans, and one of the main reasons that China implemented the new policy was to decrease the importation of these low-quality plastics that are hard to sort and recycle.
Plastic pollution is a growing threat to all ecosystems and—with China and other nations no longer taking in half of the world’s refuse—the problem is now on a path to more than double by 2030, according to an October 2021 United Nations report. The United States has recycled less than a tenth of its plastic waste, with Europe doing better at about a third of theirs, but now all these countries will have more plastic that they can no longer export—and with that, the plastics situation is poised to get worse.
The Circle of Life
More recycling would seem like a logical solution to the problem. Unfortunately, not all plastics have traditionally been recyclable, nor can most be recycled many times over. Most post-consumer plastics—like the packages your takeaway food containers come in, or margarine and yogurt tubs—are considered “unrecyclable” using traditional mechanical recycling methods, with the vast majority of it getting incinerated or sent to landfills.
This plastic, polypropylene, is rarely recycled. Better known as “Resin Code #5,” it is used in everything from shampoo bottles and plastic cups to automotive parts and medical devices. Removing contaminants, color and odor from these plastics to recycle them has traditionally been expensive and complicated, often yielding poor results.
Reducing pollution produced by plastics on a global scale will require an accelerated transition to new processes, additional innovation and the ability to support ambitious sustainability goals.
These new processes rely on advanced automation technology and software to create scalable production models, and so ReNew ELP selected Emerson as its digital automation partner to ensure a safe, efficient and innovative process. In addition, the company will be providing ReNew ELP with the project and operational methodologies and a control and safety system to keep the plants running efficiently and the employees safe.
“By converting end-of-life plastics into fossil-replacement feedstocks, ReNew ELP has the potential to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastic and make the raw ingredients for a circular plastics economy, creating value instead of waste,” says Richard Daley, managing director at ReNew ELP.
The company has initiated a life cycle assessment by the Warwick Manufacturing Group to determine its new recycling process’s environmental impacts and Global Warming Potential (GWP). This evaluation will also determine what CO2 savings occur when plastic waste is diverted from incineration instead of advanced recycling. The initial findings are encouraging, indicating a significant reduction in GWP.
“Through collaborative project engineering, advanced digital solutions and life cycle services, Emerson will help ReNew ELP create a solution that supports sustainable practices and helps advance our goals to preserve resources,” says Roel Van Doren, group president of global sales at Emerson.
Reducing pollution produced by plastics on a global scale will require an accelerated transition to new processes, additional innovation and the ability to support ambitious sustainability goals. Advanced digital automation technologies, like the solutions Emerson provides, coupled with innovative and collaborative project engineering can help companies like PureCycle and ReNew ELP create long-term solutions that are safe, reliable and productive, ensuring the output is good for the environment and the bottom line. The combination of a trusted digital partner and innovative technology will take a huge bite out of the 170 billion pounds of polypropylene plastic produced each year and help to put us on track for a better future.
