“We are seeing first-hand that the industry is stepping up to meet this new demand: last year, plant upgrades and expansions accounted for more than 80% of our projects in the plastics sector, an increase in excess of 38% compared to 2019,” explains Enrico Siewert, Director of Product and Market Development at Stadler, a leading supplier of sorting plants for the recycling industry. “Technology advances in the last 10 years have revolutionized the industry. Today, we are able to sort plastics very efficiently, at very high percentages. A Stadler mechanical sorting plant can achieve up to 95%. With electrostatic or washing equipment it can be close to 100%.”
Manufacturers are also finding new uses for PCR, so that recycling doesn’t have to be limited to bottle-to-bottle transformation: for example, it’s possible to make pallets with recycled plastic. Another innovative use of PCR is railroad ties, also replacing wood. They are extremely durable, they are not vulnerable to water and insects, and competitive in price.
