Researchers at the University of Warwick have devised a new technique which could process 100% of Christmas and other household plastic instead of the tiny fraction that actually gets processed.
The new unit uses pyrolysis in a ‘fluidised bed’ reactor.
According to the research, on average 120g of plastic wrapping is consumed on Christmas gifts, most of which is of a type which is almost impossible to recycle.
The University has come up with a simple process that can cope with every piece of plastic waste and can even break some polymers such as polystyrene back down to its original monomers.
Some products could be reclaimed from the plastic mix including wax that can be then used a lubricant; original monomers such as styrene that can be used to make new polystyrene.
The products also include terephthalic acid which can be reused in PET plastic products, methylmetacrylate that can be used to make acrylic sheets, carbon which can be used as carbon black in paint pigments and tyres.