GCR Sustainable Plastic Solutions has started operating a polyolefin recycling plant in Castellet i la Gornal, a municipality outside Barcelona, Spain.
With an annual capacity to recycle over 130,000 tonnes of polyolefins, the Castellet i la Gornal plant is one of the largest in Europe. In comparison, Sweden’s Site Zero can sort up to 200,000 tonnes of plastic packaging a year.
Announcing the start-up on LinkedIn, the Spain-based material producer said it was proud to introduce the recycling plant after six years of planning and development.
The plant has capacity to recycle over 100,000 tonnes of post-consumer polyolefins and 30,000 tonnes of post-industrial polyolefins. It includes Erema recycling processing lines, Tomra optical sorting machinery, and one of Europe’s largest hot washing capacities for high-purity recycled materials.
The facility also includes in-house laboratories ensuring strict quality control and performance testing, specialised deodorisation and batch homogenisation, and a closed-loop water system to minimise water consumption.
The new plant’s capacity will feed into GCR’s Ciclic portfolio of recycled polyolefins as well the Granic range of mineral-filled masterbatches and compounds.
The Ciclic portfolio includes recycled HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, and PP. GCR says integrating the recycled plastic grades into formulations can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90%.
The Granic product line combines ultrafine minerals like calcium carbonate (CaCO3), talc, or silica, with PE and PP. The addition of Granic can account for up to 70% of the final plastic content, resulting in a significant reduction of polymers while enhancing the mechanical properties of end applications.
GCR has a combined production capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year. It exports 85% of its products to over 100 countries.
Find GCR at PRSE: stand C120