TRADE SHOW REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 24 No. 07+08/23 www.petpla.net 37 improvements will also solve the problem of too short turnaround time at professional composting facilities. Bio-based polymers do not have to be biodegradable, as they can be so-called drop-in chemicals (e.g. HDPE from sugar cane waste; it is absolutely identical to HDPE from fossil sources and not biodegradable). This development will continue and provide us with new biodegradable and bio-based materials, I am pretty sure. And our involvement in this area will also give us the opportunity to be a pioneer here. Currently, these products play a minor role in the early stages of production and use PETplanet: One last question for the recycling expert: recycling machine manufacturers do not see mechanical PET and / or plastic recycling at the end of its development. Improvements are still possible. So-called chemical recycling for plastics is also developing and should be complementary to other forms of recycling. There are some projects being carried out on this. A wealth of different studies are being conducted. However, it is clear that this costly process needs investment - but the problem also seems to be the security of investment: the research on these processes is mainly carried out with material streams like polyolefin that have already been well prepared and sorted. This means that investments are made on the basis of this material, including PET. How do you assess the situation and is Alpla interested in this type of recycling? Hagspiel: This question is probably beyond the scope of this interview to answer. Yes, there is progress in recycling polymers, but not only in chemical recycling. Mechanical recycling is also opening up new applications and reaching new levels of quality. But to come back to your question about chemical recycling and investments: in chemical recycling, we have to distinguish between the technologies for polyolefins, mainly pyrolysis, and the technologies for polyesters like PET, namely methanolysis, glycolysis and hydrolysis. These are completely different technologies with very precisely defined input parameters. Today, most major oil companies and polymer producers are focused on pyrolysis. As you mentioned, investments for such plants are in the range of 600 to 900 million euros or even more and have capacities of 100,000 t/a and more. In order to get the green light from the board members for such an enormous investment, the legal/political environment must be clear and favourable, as well as the market and the input stream must be clear and safe. At Alpla, we focus on increasing our mechanical recycling capacity as we are convinced that this is the environmentally friendly way to keep the material in the cycle. At the same time, however, we are keeping a very close eye on the market for the latest developments in chemical recycling in order to ensure, or at least strive for, a parallel existence with equal rights. Chemical recycling should be a complementary and necessary recycling technology, but it should not interfere with the input stream that is suitable for mechanical recycling. PETplanet: Thank you so much Dr Hagspiel for your time and the willingness to share your knowledge with us! www.alpla.com ® Accurate. Fast. Intuitive. Simplified dimensional and thickness measurement of plastic containers and preforms featuring AutoJob®— automated attribute recognition and job setup in seconds. Visit us on social www.agrintl.com +1.724.482.2163
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