The new facility will allow Borealis to consolidate its presence in the plastics recycling field

Ecoplast

Image: Borealis and Ecoplast have opened a new plastics recycling facility in Austria. Photo: courtesy of Borealis AG.

Borealis and Ecoplast have opened a new and advanced plastics recycling facility in Austria to better serve the customers in the region.

Situated in Wildon of Styria, Ecoplast plastics recycling facility will process plastic waste from domestic and industrial consumers into quality recyclate.

The new polyethylene (PE) film recycling line at the facility will help the company to increase production capacity by 60%.

The Ecoplast facility will help Borealis to enhance operational procedures, as well as consolidate its operations in the plastics recycling field, specifically in its home country of Austria.

In August 2018, Borealis acquired Ecoplast Kunststoffrecycling to develop mechanical recycling capabilities in the region. It also acquired Germany-based mtm plastics and mtm compact, a major European producer of post-consumer polyolefin recyclates.

Borealis polyolefins and innovation and technology executive vice-president Lucrèce Foufopoulos-De Ridder said: “Borealis sees the drive towards a circular economy as a top priority. The investment at the Ecoplast location is a key step to attain our circular economy solution targets and brings us a step closer to our objective to quadrupling our recycling production by 2025.”

Ecoplast facility will improve operational procedures and increase the output of recycled material

The new facility will produce low-density polyethylene (LDPE) recyclate, the mostly-used raw material for film packaging.

The new mechanical recycling system features a fully automatic process for the preparation and comminution of plastic wastes. It also features an optimised washing technology and improved near-infrared (NIR) sorting steps.

Based on their different chemical compositions, the various types of plastic absorb the NIR waves and will be classified with a high degree of homogeneity.

Ecoplast managing director Lukas Intemann said: “Ecoplast’s key competence lies in the recycling of flexible materials from extremely contaminated household and commercial refuse into a product that is suitable for the production of thin-walled film packaging.”

In June this year, Borealis launched a new plastics recycling technology, Borcycle, which will be used to produce high-quality compounds made of recycled polyolefins (rPO) such as Borcycle MF1981SY.