Sorting technology specialist Tomra plans to invest up to 60 million euros in the construction of a sorting plant for post-consumer plastic waste in Germany. The plant is scheduled to go into operation between 2024 and 2025 and will have an annual capacity of 80,000 tonnes.
With this investment, Tomra aims to close the quantity and quality gaps in plastics recycling by from the waste that is currently lost through incineration and landfill. The material obtained in this way will then be used by recyclers to produce flakes and granulate for applications such as packaging material.
Since 2019, Tomra has been working on the development of a concept for high-quality sorting of plastic waste from both separate sources and mixed waste. To this end, a pilot plant for mechanical recycling, which can recycle both film and solid plastic household waste, was put into operation in Lahnstein together with Borealis at the beginning of 2021.
„Every year, millions of tonnes of plastic are lost to incineration and landfill. In addition, there is an increasing demand for recycled plastics from both chemical and mechanical recyclers. Our aim is to use our expertise in sorting to help close the plastics recycling gap and turn mixed plastic waste into valuable raw materials.“
Dr Volker Rehrmann, Executive Vice President of Tomra Recycling
By bringing together innovative technologies and processes, the company wants to show that, that the production of high-quality recyclate is possible, regardless of the source of the starting material. To this end, Tomra plans to invest 50 to 60 million euros in the construction of a medium-sized plant. The plant is scheduled to go into operation between 2024 and 2025 and will have an annual capacity of 80,000 tonnes. The plant will be built in an existing facility, which will be leased on a long-term basis.
The sorting technology specialist wants to utilise pre-sorted, mixed post-consumer plastic material and process it in the new plant using a splitting and sorting process. The output is to be from over ten different polymer fractions exist.
„The investment we are now making in the sorting of plastic raw materials is aimed at closing the cycle of plastics and reducing dependence on primary resources.“
Tove Andersen, President and CEO, Tomra
Source: Tomra
