TotalEnergies Corbion is stepping up its efforts to close the recycling loop for PLA. The company has now started to actively buy reprocessed PLA waste with the goal of stimulating its collection, sorting, and cleaning. The aim is to create a marketplace for PLA recycle streams, the company said.
TotalEnergies Corbion uses a chemical recycling process to process the waste into Luminy rPLA, which offers the exact same properties and certifications as virgin Luminy PLA.
That PLA is not only recyclable but suitable for creating a recycling stream has already been amply demonstrated by Austria’s NaKu: it markets its bottled water in a bottle made of 100% PLA that contains 20% certified recycled content. After use, the bottles are collected, sorted, and cleaned and the resulting PLA is mechanically recycled into different applications.
In Asia, the Korean company Sansu offers another strong example of PLA recyclability. Sansu bottles its water in Luminy PLA. Again, after use, the bottles are collected, sorted, cleaned and chemically recycled into Luminy rPLA, which has the exact same mechanical properties, food contact and other certifications as virgin PLA. The recycled content is SCS certified.
PLA cups are the only kind used at various jazz and music festivals in Korea, said ChowPin Tan, Senior Business Development Director Asia Pacific at TotalEnergies Corbion.
“The cups are collected, sorted and sent for advanced recycling at our plant in Thailand. This closed-loop concept is not new, but with the advanced recycling that TotalEnergies Corbion has developed. it is now a reality,” he said.