CLEANSTREAM Technology - Food Grade PP from Post-Consumer sources

聚丙烯占世界塑料产量的20%；主要用于制造食品用的锅、桶和托盘(PTT)(WRAP，2018)。在英国，我们在包装应用中使用C390,000吨/年的聚丙烯，其中大部分(C70%)用于生产食品级包装(WRAP，2019)。然而，由于没有批准的食品级加工方法来机械回收聚丙烯，聚丙烯食品包装的生产目前依赖于原始聚合物(Inside Packaging，2021年)。相反，消费后的聚丙烯食品包装被降级为监管要求不那么严格的低价值应用；例如汽车(从内饰设计到挡泥板)、其他包装应用(例如油漆罐、托盘、板条箱)和园艺应用(例如植物盆)。反过来，与其他塑料相比，缺乏用于消费后聚丙烯食品包装的闭环回收路线严重限制了价值创造和回收率。2017/18年度，约60%的塑料瓶是通过路边收集计划收集的，而PTT只有38%(WRAP，2019年)。因此，英国消费者包装中回收的聚丙烯PTT含量仅为5%(WRAP，2019年)，而英国所有塑料包装的平均回收含量为13%(WRAP，2020)。由于英国塑料公约的目标是到2025年所有塑料包装的平均回收含量达到30%，开发生产食品级回收聚丙烯的工艺是工业战略挑战基金智能可持续塑料包装的优先事项。科学家们最近还呼吁到2040年停止生产原始塑料。挑战是开发一种经济上可行的工艺，将消费后接触食品的聚丙烯PTT与非食品用聚丙烯PTT分开，满足FSA/EFSA的要求，即给回收的聚丙烯工艺提供原料，使其包含较高比例的食品接触PTT。与容易分类和回收以生产食品级材料的PET和HDPE瓶不同，聚丙烯PTT在生活垃圾(包括食品、个人护理、家用化学品)中的多样化应用使食品级材料所需的高精度分类具有极大的挑战性。潜在的容器滥用使情况变得更加复杂。在公共资金的支持下，塑料回收巨头Platgran与TOMRA分类、Maynard&Harris、RPC Containers和MassMold将开发并演示世界上第一个生产食品级再生聚丙烯的机械回收工艺。我们的创新方法专为整合现有的废物流和基础设施而设计，依靠最先进的在线传感器技术和机器学习算法相结合，将进料分类为食品/非食品接触材料。

Polypropylene accounts for c20% of the world's plastic; predominantly used to make pots, tubs, and trays (PTT) for food applications (WRAP, 2018). In the UK, we use c390,000 tonnes/year of polypropylene in packaging applications, the majority (c70%) of which is used to produce food-grade packaging (WRAP, 2019). Yet, since there is no approved food-grade process method for mechanically recycling polypropylene, the production of polypropylene food packaging currently relies on virgin polymers (Inside Packaging, 2021). Instead, post-consumer polypropylene food packaging is down-cycled into lower-value applications with less stringent regulatory requirements; e.g., automotive (ranging from interior design items to mudguards), other packaging applications (e.g., paint pots, pallets, crates), and horticulture (e.g., plant pots).In turn, the absence of a closed-loop recycling route for post-consumer polypropylene food packaging severely restricts value creation and recycling rates compared to other plastics. In 2017/18, around 60% of plastic bottles were collected by kerbside collection schemes, compared to only 38% for PTT (WRAP, 2019). Consequently, the UK recycled content of polypropylene PTT in consumer packaging is only 5% (WRAP, 2019), compared to an average recycled content of 13% across all UK plastics packaging (WRAP, 2020). With a UK Plastics Pact target of reaching an average recycled content of 30% across all plastics packaging by 2025, the development of a process to produce food-grade recycled polypropylene is a priority for the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging. Scientists also recently called for an end to the production of virgin plastics by 2040\.The challenge is to develop an economically viable process to separate post-consumer food-contact polypropylene PTT from non-food-use polypropylene PTT, meeting FSA/EFSA requirements for infeed to a recycled polypropylene process to comprise a high percentage of food-contact PTT. Unlike PET and HDPE bottles, which are readily sorted and recycled to produce food-grade materials, the diverse applications of polypropylene PTT in domestic waste (spanning food, personal care, household chemicals) makes sorting to high accuracy required for food-grade materials extremely challenging. The situation is further compounded by potential container misuse.With public funding, plastics recycling giant Plasgran, with TOMRA Sorting, Maynard & Harris, RPC Containers, and Massmould, will develop and demonstrate the world's first mechanical recycling process to produce food-grade recycled polypropylene. Our innovative approach is uniquely designed for integration within existing waste streams and infrastructure, relying on a state-of-the-art combination of online sensor technologies coupled with machine learning algorithms to sort the infeed into food/non-food-contact materials.