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Sorting Plastic Packaging … for Fun & Profit

Nick Cliffe

Closed Loop Recycling

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Why sort?

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Why sort?

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Why sort?

Value

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Why sort?

Customer requirements

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Why sort?

Specialised reprocessing

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Why just plastic bottles?

= + Plastic Bottles

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Primary Sorting

At point of collection Kerbside Sort Comingled

QUALITY COST

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+ve and –ve sorting

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+ve and –ve sorting

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Man vs. Machine

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Near Infra-Red

Spectra for PET – source: Spectral Database (SDBS) National Institute of Advance Industrial Science & Technology

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PP 0.85 / 0.95

HDPE 0.94 / 0.96

Water 1.0

PS 1.03 - 1.06

PVC 1.32 - 1.42

PET 1.35 - 1.38

Density Separation

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Flake sorting

• Colour cameras

• NIR systems

• Laser Raman Spectroscopy

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Flake sorting

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Shape recognition

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Shape recognition

• Part recognition

– Shape

– Colour

• Label matching

– Known

– Unknown

– Label database

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Coded Packaging - consumers

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Coded packaging - machines

Item Marker A Marker B

Clear PET Bottle - -

Natural HDPE bottle - -

Natural HDPE bottle – detergent - Clear PP packaging – food product - Clear PP packaging – non food product Clear PET Bottle with nylon barrier layer -

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Conclusion

• We want to recycle all plastic packaging

• To do this we need both infrastructure and smart packaging

• Most of the tools are in place …

• Thank you