Enabling the circular economy: Microwave Assisted Pyrolysis of plastic film and flexible packaging

Plastic is an incredibly useful material, emphasised recently during the Covid-19 pandemic. The need for protective equipment such as face-masks, acrylic screens at supermarket check-outs, and single-use plastic bags in home shopping deliveries etc., has resulted in a dramatic surge in demand.

However, across the world, millions of tonnes of plastic are wasted every year. Despite the fact that technology now exists to mechanically recycle much of the 'hard' plastic that is discarded, 'soft' material (such as film and flexible packaging) is difficult to process and therefore consigned to landfill or incineration where it has a devastating effect on the environment.

Together with Enva (a leading provider of recycling resource recovery solutions) and The Biorenewables Development Centre (a renown R&D centre converting waste into products), Sylatech Ltd (a UK manufacturer of precision RF Microwave engineering components) is developing a new, enhanced recycling technology called Microwave Assisted Pyrolysis (MAP) to address this issue.

Using this novel process, high-energy microwaves convert plastic waste into useful molecules by heating it in the absence of oxygen in order to break its chemical bonds (i.e. pyrolysis). This methodology is often termed "chemical" recycling due to this effect, but is sometimes referred to as "thermal" recycling due to the high temperature conditions of the process.

The end result is the recovery of molecular building blocks (oil), from which new virgin-grade plastic can be made.

A report by the World Economic Forum has estimated that up to 95% of plastic packaging material value (or $80-120bn annually) is lost to the economy after a short first use \[1\]. This project will help to mitigate this colossal waste of value, keeping plastics in the supply chain where it belongs, and out of the environment where it doesn't.

\[1\] http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF\_The\_New\_Plastics\_Economy.pdf