A new plastic recycling plant in northern England is the first of its kind, according to Nature. If this facility can deliver on its promise, it may be able to find new life for challenging materials.
Facility developer Mura is using hydrothermal liquefaction to break down hard-to-recycle plastics. That means the company is mixing plastics with water in a high-pressure, high-temperature environment. Packaging film and bags are ineligible for mechanical recycling, which shreds up and makes pellets out of plastic. This makes those plastics prime candidates for Mura's chemical recycling, though the company will be choosing its inputs based on client demands.
"The overriding takeaway is that if you can mechanically recycle your material, then do that. If you can't mechanically recycle it, then chemically recycle it in the way that is most appropriate for that material," said Stuart Coles, researcher at Warwick Manufacturing Group. Mura agreed and plans to only take materials rejected from mechanical recycling.
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Definitely 👍 The hope is to recycle plastic in a way that's more efficient and less picky than pyrolysis, where plastics are heated in a low-oxygen environment. Pyrolysis has usually been the next stop on the recycling chain, but it produces pollution and messy byproducts. Hydrothermal liquefaction has its own pitfalls, however.
Mura's process creates heavy residual oil for use in asphalt; heavy gas oil, which is used in chemical production; as well as distillate gas oil and naphtha, both of which are used in the creation of new plastics. The challenge, according to advocacy and research group Zero Waste Europe, is that plastic production still requires naphtha produced directly from fossil fuels, even with any naphtha made by Mura mixed in.
"We've been highly critical of chemical recycling and chemical recovery, but we never said that it is absolutely a no-go," said ZWE chemical-recycling policy officer Lauriane Veillard, per Nature. "It has a role to play — but it should definitely not be the first option."
As useful as it is, plastic is becoming a danger to ecosystems around the world. In seas, it is breaking down into microplastics, which wreak havoc on the fish many rely on for food. The more plastic we can recover with plants like Mura's, the less waste pollution we have to deal with later. Find a few new ways you can minimize plastic waste in our guide.
Mura's British plant will process over 25,300 tons of waste each year, and the company plans to open more plants in Germany, the United States, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea.
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