New logistics for plastics waste in a circular economy - LogiCirc

Purpose and goal:

The project has achieved its goals. The overall goal was to create a system for increased recycling of pre-consumer plastic waste, so-called PIR material, and thus reduce the amount of waste and increase resource efficiency. A partial goal has been to investigate how to improve sorting and storage at the place where the plastic waste is generated.

Another partial goal has been to investigate how the combination of improved sorting and increased traceability can also improve the quality of the plastic material that is recycled for use in new products. Expected results and effects:

The costs of handling plastic waste were expected to decrease for both product manufacturers and recyclers as overall larger volumes and cleaner fractions are handled. At the same time, there is a challenge with sorting into more fractions as it affects transport efficiency, handling, possibly storage costs and the flow of information regarding traceability.

At the same time, it was assumed that with better sorting and traceability, the quality of the recycled material could be maintained at a higher level, which is in the interest of both product manufacturers and recyclers. Approach and implementation:

The project was divided into four work packages. The first included project management and communication, with Chalmers Industriteknik being responsible for compliance with project plan and budget. Work package 2 was run by Novoplast and focused on collection and storage at source.

Work package 3 focused on sorting and labelling and this too was driven by Novoplast. The fourth work package included improved traceability and standardization, focusing mainly on today´s standards and possibly known upcoming changes, was also handled by Chalmers Industriteknik.