Page 13 from: Previous editions >>

TRENDS & UPDATES

13recyclinginternational.com | March/April | 2020

PRODUCERS SET UP E-SCRAP PLASTICS
SITE IN RIGA
Recipo, the leading producer responsibility scheme
for electronics in the Nordic Region, has opened its own
recycling plant in Latvia. The new site recycles e-scrap
plastics to be used in new electronic products.
Recipo Material is in Riga and is described as a purpose-
built recycling plant for e-scrap plastics. The factory will
handle over 20 000 tonnes of material per year, mostly
coming from Scandinavia and surrounding countries,
transforming it into plastic pellets.
Recipo members say they hope to set an example by
providing a dedicated European recycling solution for
this niche type of plastic. The organisation notes that
Europe currently has the capacity to recycle only 25% of
its electronic plastics and it is confident the new facility
will substantially increase this percentage.
‘Recycling European waste on European soil will ensure
that producers can have better control of their prod-
uct’s entire life cycle and environmental impact,’ says
Recipo ceo Josef Tapper. ‘Consumers and Governments
are demanding an ever higher post-consumer account-
ability, and Recipo will now be able to work directly with

producers to not only collect plastic waste derived from
their products
but also to
produce recy-
cled plastic
for reuse,
closing the
loop on the
plastic lifecy-
cle.’
Tapper insists
that traceabili-
ty is a vital
part of the cir-
cular econo-
my. ‘With Recipo Material, we hope to see large-scale
companies turn to us for a steady stream of recycled
plastic, as opposed to relying on the unsustainable use
of virgin plastic which simply increases the volume of
plastic waste polluting the planet,’ the ceo adds.
Recipo ultimately plans to achieve an annual recycling
rate of a 100% by recycling the same amount of elec-
tronics that are put on the market.

US BUILDS ONE OF THE WORLD’S
LARGEST AIRCRAFT RECYCLING HUBS
Aircraft Solutions USA is setting up a subsidiary in
North Carolina to recycle more aircraft parts and materi-
als.
The expansion will create 475 jobs and see Aircraft
Solutions USA invest nearly US$100 million (EUR 91 mil-
lion) in its new aircraft recycling hub. Global TransPark in
Lenoir County will host the new site, which will dismantle
both commercial and military aircraft.
The move is timely as Airbus recently reported it
expects around 37 500 new passenger and freighter air-
craft to enter the skies by 2040.
General manager Sven Daniel Koechler, says: ‘With our
environmentally friendly and sustainable processes, we
offer a real alternative to conventional boneyards and
are proud to be able to build an architectural highlight
in North Carolina with one of the largest hangars in the
world.’ Koechler underlines that the company, which has
its headquarters in Miami, Florida, has developed a
‘unique hanger system’ as well as new recycling technol-
ogy that will enable the recycling of up to 70 more
Boeing 737s a year.
Meanwhile, Belgian recycling firm AeroCircular has
shown that old planes may offer a valuable learning
experience for young pilots. The company has launched
a collaboration with Euramec to upcycle end-of-life
cockpits and fuselages for flight simulation training.
To read more about aircraft recycling, flip to page 8!

CAN CAPTURED CO2 TAKE E-SCRAP RECYCLING
TO THE NEXT LEVEL?
A group of researchers in France say captured carbon dioxide can
be used to extract metals from post-consumer electronics.
‘By simultaneously extracting metals by injecting CO2, you add
value to a process that is known to be cost-intensive,’ says Julien
Leclaire who leads the project at the University of Lyon. His team
collected CO2 from a car exhaust, cooled it, then pumped it into a
mix of chemicals called polyamines. The CO2 combined with the
polyamines to create molecules of differing shapes and sizes.
This innovative process dissolves certain metals in the liquid while
others become solid. Leclaire reports that his team successfully sep-
arated lanthanum, cobalt and nickel – all of which are used in bat-
teries, computers and magnets.
If the process can be scaled up, it could be a more environmentally
friendly way to
recycle a range of
e-scrap. An added
benefit is that the
CO2 method does
not require highly
reactive chemicals
such as acids.
Leclaire notes that
other researchers
are currently trying
to convert captured
CO2 into plastics but this is chemically challenging. The process
developed in Lyon is ‘more in line with how CO2 behaves naturally,’
he says. ‘Instead of mimicking what we know how to do better and
cheaper with oil, let’s find things you can only do with CO2.’

www.redwave.com
REDWAVE Headquarters Austria

Subsidiaries: Germany | US | China | Singapore

++

++

++

++

sensor based sorting
machines
complete recycling
plants
waste treatment
technologies
process monitoring
and control system

RECYCLING &
WASTE

TREATMENT S
OLUTIONS

REDWAVE 2i
The new generation
of INTELLIGENT sorting

10-11-12-13-14-15_trendsupdates1.indd 13 05-03-20 12:24