Greenback Recycling Technologies, a UK-headquartered advanced recycling technology company that aims to create certified circular solutions for plastic waste, has announced it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with PolyCycl, an India based chemical recycling technology company working to generate circular petrochemical feedstock from post-consumer landfill waste plastics. The agreement seeks to explore the possibility of a partnership between the two companies to implement plastic-to-oil projects in India based on PolyCycl’s patented fully-continuous pyrolysis technology. Such projects would generate up to 6,000 tonnes of certified pyrolysis oil in the short term and up to 24,000 tonnes in the medium term, using waste plastics mined from landfills and legacy heaps.
Greenback Recycling Technologies is focussed on implementing a scalable and distributed advanced collection and recycling solution, that offers brand owners and the plastics value chain fully traceable recyclate. The aim is to build a decentralised network of collection and recycling plants near the sources of post-consumer plastic waste around the world.
An important aspect of Greenback’s approach is the transparency about and traceability of the output – the pyrolysis oil produced by the process. It has therefore established its eco2Veritas Circularity Platform, which provides certified proof of material provenance and value using a combination of artificial intelligence and IoT gathered evidence - backed up on blockchain technology to provide additional security.
Greenback’s first major project, announced last week, is in Mexico, where the company has entered into an agreement with Nestlé Mexico to build a new chemical recycling facility designed to process flexible plastic packaging. At the core of the project is Greenback’s goal of diverting mixed plastics waste from landfill sites, while incentivising waste collection and sorting at source.
The technology at that site will be provided by Enval, a UK-based chemical recycling firm, that has developed a microwave-induced pyrolysis process for the conversion of waste plastic packaging into pyrolysis oil. That plant, which will process up to 6,000 tonnes of flexible plastic packaging in the first year, is intended to provide the framework for further projects around the world.
The present agreement with PolyCy will build on the progress both companies have already made: PolyCycl has completed pioneering work in segregation and pre-processing of waste plastics from landfill waste heaps and its conversion to refined petrochemical feedstocks using a patented, fully continuous depolymerization process; Greenback will be deploying its eco2Veritas Circularity Platform to form an ‘evidence-based, incorruptible and immutable waste certification system’. This will ensure that the pyrolysis oils produced
come with evidence-backed certification and full supply chain visibility to prove to value chain partners, buyers of plastic and end consumers that they are addressing the plastic waste crisis through their use of recycled plastic.
The agreement will allow greenback to ‘ further our advanced recycling programme of activity around the world’, said Philippe von Stauffenberg, Greenback Founder and CEO. “PolyCycl and Greenback share a common vision of advanced recycling driving the growth of renewable feedstocks from everyday waste, which ultimately leads to the much-needed circular economy in plastic packaging.”
“Today, more than 5 billion tons of waste plastics are littered in landfills all over the world and we are pleased to be working with Greenback on a solution for this significant problem,” added Amit Tandon, PolyCycl CEO.