Polymers have become indispensable in our society. Even though plastic products are coming under increasing scrutiny worldwide, the truth is that we can hardly do without this fascinating material. That’s why the demand for products made of high-quality recyclates is constantly rising, and large manufacturers of branded goods in particular are eager to satisfy this demand. Which means they need large quantities of consistently high-quality secondary raw materials.
The Circumat project group proves just how effective recyclates can be with their engineered rigid plastic containers called Recycling Öli Its members – the Landes-Abfallverwertungsunternehmen LAVU, the Transfercenter für Kunststofftechnik (TCKT), the Johannes Kepler University Linz (JKU) and the industrial partners Erema, Greiner Packaging, Innplast Kunststoffe, Lindner and Borealis with mtm plastics – are aiming to jointly develop technically advanced products made of recyclates to demonstrate new possible areas of application. ‘Recycling Öli’ is their pilot project.
Öli is a multiple-use bucket for the collection of used cooking oil from households and the catering industry in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and was previously made of virgin polypropylene. Thanks to this cooperation, it is now possible to produce buckets made of 100% recycled post-consumer rigid plastic with the same properties as the old containers made of virgin material. For example, the bucket has to retain its shape when 400 kg of compression load are applied, it has to be heat-resistant up to 80 °C and has to have consistent dimensions of ± 1/10 mm. Recycling Öli will gradually replace the existing Öli buckets.
