Each year, Europe uses about 1 million tons of food and beverage cartons. 250,000 tons of plastic and aluminium components from these cartons remain largely unrecycled, with the majority being incinerated. This practice not only wastes valuable materials but also contributes to significant CO2 emissions of 593 000 tons per year from plastic incineration alone. The challenges of recycling PolyAl stem from the complexity of its multi-layer composition, comprising strongly bonded polyethylene and aluminium with incompatible properties like ductility, melting points and abrasivity. These problems are compounded by contamination from imperfect waste sorting and material degradation during manufacturing and recycling. Existing recycling methods fail to provide scalable, cost-effective, or environmentally friendly solutions. Our proposed technology uses an innovative Plastigram patented recycling process based on separating aluminium and polyethylene using an aqueous formic acid solution with the process of separation being preceded and followed by proprietary mechanical treatments based on our specific design. The result is high-quality recycled plastics with 0% aluminium contamination, and aluminium powder, that can be reused in higher value products across industries. Closed-loop chemical system further minimises chemical waste. As a result, our proposed technology results in high material recovery with high-purity plastics and aluminium powder, is cost-efficient and proven on an industrial scale, while reducing CO2 production by >85% compared to incineration.

This 36-month Sol-Rec2 project targets the development and implementation of ground-breaking strategies for improving the sorting, separation and recycling of pharma blister packs and laminate consumer packaging waste consisting of multiple layers of polymers and aluminium. Innovative digital watermark technologies will be further developed and progressed to TRL6 through successful demonstration of rapid and efficient sorting of multi-layer packaging. Experience from working in the field of ionic liquids will be leveraged to develop a toolbox of novel green solvent systems (TRL5) that can delaminate multi-layer packaging material and selectively dissolve target polymers – reducing demand for virgin raw materials through efficient separation and recovery of high purity PE, PP and PVC polymers and aluminium. Socioeconomic and environmental benefits of Sol-Rec2 will be established through detailed life cycle analyses. An exciting consortium of SMEs, research organisations and universities from 6 EU countries has been established, consisting of IPM2 (FR-SME), Aimplas (ES-RTO), FiliGrade (NL-SME), TWI (UK-RTO), University of Leicester (UK-UNI), Solvionic (FR-SME), Plastigram (CZ-SME) and Mikrolin (HU-SME). Partners bring a wealth of experience to the project covering plastic waste collection and sorting, digital watermarks, ionic liquids, polymer dissolution, recycling of multi-layer materials, reuse of polymers, eco-design and life cycle assessments. Generated knowledge will help to accelerate innovative recycling within Eastern Europe and reduce the complexity of multi-layer materials, leading to the design of more sustainable laminate packaging. Sol-Rec2 will deliver sustainable production of high purity polymers and aluminium – providing recyclers with a valuable income stream, minimising the environmental impact and carbon footprint associated with virgin plastics production and bauxite mining whilst also making a valuable contribution to the circular economy.