Retility is a value-chain collaboration set up by sorting machinery expert Tomra to recycle materials from retired Tomra reverse vending machines effectively. Yet this collaboration is proving to offer a potential solution for a wider recycling problem as well - that of how to recycle and reuse industrial black plastics in a closed loop.
The ecosystem was originally conceived as part of Tomra’s material circularity initiative, designed to contribute to the company’s ambitious sustainability goals. These goals include ensuring that by 2030, at least 90% of the materials and components in new Tomra products are sustainable and that at least 50% of Tomra's products are circular at their end of life. The coloured plastics used in products are not a problem, as these are easily and reliably sorted via the sorting technologies employed to separate different polymer types from one another and keep material streams pure,
Black plastics, however, present a challenge.
A standard method for making plastic black is to mix it with carbon. Unfortunately, carbon black polymers are notoriously difficult to recycle as they are not recognised by many available sorting technologies, whereby different polymer compounds could be separated from one another. This issue is a barrier to keeping each polymer type’s purity high enough to guarantee the desired physical properties are maintained in the new recycled compounds. As a result, carbon black polymers are typically sent for incineration.
Applications of black polymers are mainly found in computer and mobile technology, where up to 60% of the used plastics are black, and in the automotive industry, where around 90% of plastics are coloured black.
Tomra has addressed the problem of recycling the black plastics used in creating its equipment through its Retility initiative. Working with European Recycling Platform in Norway, Tomra reverse vending machines are responsibly decommissioned at their end of life. During disassembly, a range of black plastic parts are pre-sorted by polymer type before being passed to Polykemi, an industrial plastics compounder, to be recycled in a quality-assured material stream. The fully-documented, high-quality recycled content is then sent to Tomra’s existing injection moulding partners to become new polymer parts - enabling Tomra to achieve full circularity across a range of polymer components found in its products.
Tomra is eager for others to take part and is calling on all relevant producers to join this ecosystem.
“We would be glad to offer our insight on this initiative and facilitate any necessary connections between stakeholders,” said Marius Fraurud, Head of Tomra Collection,
It is an opportunity for other producers of black-plastic-based hardware to address what is often seen as an insurmountable obstacle to recycling.
“We hope that this initiative will result in a vast amount of valuable black plastic being diverted from incineration towards recycling, while unlocking greater access to recycled content for our peers across the technology and manufacturing industries,” said Christina Ek, head of Sustainability at Tomra Collection. “At Tomra, we have a saying that there is no such thing as waste. Retility is about putting that into practice. We are excited to explore even more opportunities to deliver on our product circularity goals.”