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In the Laboratory

transforming plastic
waste into kayaks
Queen’s University Belfast has discovered a new way to convert

single-use plastic waste into a wide range of high quality ‘prac-

tical products’ as well as fun sports goods.

The world currently produces over
300 million tonnes of plastics every
year. ‘This is almost equivalent to the
weight of the entire human popula-
tion,’ notes Dr Peter Martin, from the
School of Mechanical and Aerospace
Engineering at Queen’s. He points
out that around 50% of this material
is single-use plastics.

Plastics build-uP
Ireland is one of the biggest produc-
ers of plastic waste in Europe, gener-
ating an average of 61 kgs per per-
son every year – almost double the
UK figure and is the equivalent of
nearly 2 000 water bottles. Ireland
currently recycles around 35% of
plastic scrap while in Northern
Ireland the rate is roughly 44%. The
landfill rate in Northern Ireland of
around 30% is ‘the lowest in years’,
according to the Department of
Agriculture, Environment and Rural
Affairs. It is putting £23 million in
funding towards making recycling
‘even easier’ for consumers and busi-
nesses.
Martin is certain the recycling rate
can be much higher. That’s why his
research team is pioneering a
‘ground-breaking’ technique that can
recycle discarded plastic packaging
into water and energy fuel tanks,
marine buoys, street furniture – and

sports products such as canoes and
kayaks.

Hot and cold
The two-year research project –
called Rotocycle – relies on a manu-
facturing process called rotational
moulding, which has the potential to
economically recycle very large vol-
umes of plastic waste. The tests were
conducted at the university’s Polymer
Processing Research Centre after
getting £500 000 from Innovate UK,
the UK Government’s innovation
agency.
‘The process starts with flakes of
waste plastics being separated and
compounded into pellets using the
patented technologies of Impact
Laboratories and Impact Recycling,’
Dr Martin explains. ‘We take these
pellets and grind them into a fine
powder, which is then blended with a
proportion of new plastic (polyethyl-
ene), heated to over 200ºC and then
cooled within a mould to transform it
into the shape of a new product.’

HigH HoPes
for 2020
One recycled
product could
replace around 30% of the new plas-
tic required and use the equivalent of
1 000 old milk bottles in its manufac-
ture. ‘At present, the UK rotational
moulding industry alone consumes
more than 38 000 tonnes of new
plastic, Martin points out. ‘More than
11 000 tonnes could be saved.’
The Belfast R&D team is being sup-
ported by three industrial partners to
take the venture to the next level:
Impact Laboratories in Scotland,
Impact Recycling in England and
Harlequin Plastics in Northern Ireland.
‘We are about six months into the
project and we will be running indus-
trial trials before the end of next
year,’ comments Mark Kearns, one of
the university’s managers working on
the project. He expects that the first
recycled products will come onto the
market by next summer.

For more information, contact
Dr Peter Martin at:
[email protected]

Do you know of a new recycling-
related research project?
Let us know!
You can reach out to us via:
[email protected]

a U t h o r Kirstin Linnenkoper

75recyclinginternational.com | September/October | 2019

RESEARCH

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Plastics rec
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Dr Peter M
artin

75_inthelab.indd 75 01-10-19 08:49