Swedish Plastic Recycling - Svensk Plaståtervinning - which is owned by a large part of the Swedish business community, is now investing heavily in a new project that aims to make the incineration of plastic waste in Sweden a thing of the past.
Located in Motala, Sweden, the company is investing SEK 1 billion - just over EUR 98 million - in the development of what is claimed to be the world's largest and most modern facility for plastic recycling. The new facility, dubbed Site Zero, is at the site of the existing facility, which already
offers a nationwide system for collecting and recycling of plastic packaging to companies with an extended producer responsibility.
Equipped with next-generation technology, Site Zero will not only double the capacity of the current facility, it will also be able to handle a far wider range of plastic waste.
Spanning 60,000 sqm and with a capability of handling 200,000 tonnes of plastic packaging per year, Site Zero will eventually recycle all the plastic packaging waste produced by the households in Sweden, said Mattias Philipsson, CEO of Swedish Plastic Recycling.
“Thanks to cutting-edge technology it will be possible to recycle practically all types of plastic. Today the facility can manage four types of plastic – in the future Site Zero will make it possible to sort and recycle twelve different types,” he added.
Any fragments of plastic remaining after the sorting process will be separated and sent for chemical recycling, or turned into become new composite products.
“At Site Zero, zero packaging goes to incineration,” emphasised Philipson. No other facility in the world can say the same.
“We are also preparing for washing and granulation of the plastic in phase two, which is planned for 2025. Then our entire plastic flow in Sweden can become circular,” he said.
Site Zero will be completely climate neutral with zero emissions. The facility is powered by renewable energy, and the small amount of plastic and other waste that cannot be recycled will be sent to energy recovery without climate emissions, so-called CCS (Carbon Capture Storage). There are also plans to produce renewable energy by covering the building’s large flat roof with solar panels.
This investment paves the way for Sweden to become a world leader in plastic recycling. “Being able to do it together with our producer customers and owners, who consist of large parts of the Swedish business community, is very inspiring, says Mattias Philipsson.