UK-based advanced recycling company QM Recycled Energy has been nominated by Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce for the British Chambers of Commerce Business Award 'The Planet Saver - Green business of the year'.
QMRE is pioneering technology for recycling waste plastic into oil and then back into renewable plastic. It has a demonstration and development site located in Fawkham, Kent.
QMRE co-founder and joint managing director Tim StClair-Pearce said the company was ‘delighted with this nomination as it helps shine a light on the tremendous efforts the QMRE team have made in tackling the problems caused by plastic waste pollution’.
The company is establishing a programme aimed at creating a nationwide network of recycling centres based on technology developed by Biofabrik, a German firm specialising in technologies for sustainable management of waste problems. QMRE has been appointed the exclusive distributor to the UK and Ireland for its WASTX P-series range of plant and equipment.
The process involves feeding cleaned and size-reduced waste plastics into a system that utilises thermolysis technology to heat the plastic to around 450 degrees centigrade.
At this stage the material depolymerises and reverts to its original hydrocarbon state. The resultant gases are cooled and form oil and a small amount of residual carbon ash which is used to clean the gases and reduce any CO2 emission.
The container-sized Biofabrik WASTX Plastic P-5000 unit is able to convert up to 5000 kg of plastic waste per day. The operation can be scaled up with the opportunity to produce 10 tonnes of waste plastic into 10,000 litres of oil per day.
The process is self-powered and fully electronic. Additional processes transform the oil into renewable plastic thus lessening the dependence on virgin plastics.