P2P by Branin Recycles is about a plastics circular economy. In the best sense, this means ‘same to same’ or the same product. Waste plastic film is turned into new plastic film, waste plastic bottles are turned into new plastic bottles. The most immediate driver is removing waste plastic from the environment. By creating sustainable commercial drivers for the reutilisation of waste plastics, these are prevented from entering waterways, littering the countryside and becoming persistent micro plastics affecting wildlife and the food chain.

 

P2P is also about resource equity. That is, making more affordable materials available to more people, to support better standards of living. Plastics are highly functional materials. They are found in cars, electronic goods, medical supplies, fashion and food packaging. If one tonne of plastics can be effectively re-used, then two tonnes of material become available. As populations grow, fairness demands they have equal access to resources and materials such as plastic.

 

An equally important driver is diverting the nearly one million tonnes of plastic lost to landfill in Australia every year. This resource can be recycled more than once. One million tonnes recycled could become five million tonnes of resource. This is an important pathway for supporting higher standards of living for more people.

 

In increasing the amount of material available in a circular economy, there is no in-creased stress on the environment through the need to extract, process and transform finite raw materials into new plastics.

 

Waste Plastics always come mixed

Plastics are a highly functional family of materials. They have different chemical compositions and different characteristics and applications. Often they are presented as a mix. There are a wide variety of plastics present in a modern car or kitchen device. A sofa and carpet may be made of a mix of plastics. A soft drink bottle may have a label and closure made of different plastics. This mix of plastics is necessary for functionality.

 

This complicates recycling as the different plastics must be separated in order to be re-used. Functionality would be lost if goods could only be made from one plastic. P2P by Branin Recycles recognises that functional plastic products must come as a mix of plastics when presented as waste. It is innovation around the separation of different plastics that provides the solution. As an example, the evolution of P2P re-quires ongoing R&D to resolve the recovery of laminates of different plastics used in modern film packaging for food.

 

This ‘Modified Atmosphere Packaging’ allows long storage life in ambient conditions. It makes ‘more affordable food available for more people’. This increases ‘food equity’. This driver will only see an increase in more functional and complex packaging and the necessity to develop P2P innovations and systems. P2P innovation is a journey rather than a destination.

 

Waste Plastics always come mixed with different materials

Paper comes in a variety of ways. Paper adhesive labels are often found in conjunction with plastic. Pallet wrapping with a logistics adhesive label or a courier bag with an adhesive address label are common. A plastics shopping bag with a paper docket left inside means that when the plastic bag is melted for recycling, the docket does not melt, blocking filters in a plastics recycling machine.

 

A detergent or sauce bottle with a paper label is an example of ’mixed materials’ in plastic. Another example is packaging for petfood or coffee or confectionaries that contains aluminium foil as a laminate. A plastic yoghurt tub with an aluminium foil seal ensures food safety but results in a mixed material presentation. Mixed material presentations represent a complex challenge for P2P innovation. The evolution of P2P requires ongoing R&D to resolve recycling solutions and feedback loops to materials and plastics products designers.

 

Waste Plastics always come mixed with different materials and residues

Plastics products at ’end of life’ never present as simple materials. Food packaging comes with food residues. An old margarine container has smears of margarine, a sauce bottle has the residues of sauce. Agricultural film waste contains dirt, stones and plant matter. Separating these contaminants from plastics can be accomplished by washing with water. In this case, up to 10 tonnes of water may be used to clean 1 tonne of plastic. This creates a tenfold larger ’waste problem’ in the form of dirty wash water.

 

It is the creation of a larger water pollution problem that can frustrate a plastics circular economy. Behind the ban on plastic waste imports enacted by China in 2018 and subsequently in South East Asia was the issue of ‘importing water pollution’. The sending of recyclables to Asia for processing was really the sending of a tenfold larger water pollution problem. With the passing of the Australian ‘Recycling and Waste Reduction Act 2020’ the export of mixed plastics in no longer legal from July 2021, while unprocessed plastics of any type may not be exported from July 2022.

 

Plastics recycling is all about water use and recycling

The requirement for onshore plastics recycling requires the building of scale waste plastic reprocessing infrastructure in Australia. Australian waste must be responsibly recycled within Australia. Water is a precious resource and the industrial scale use of process water must be cleverly thought out. Minimising the use of water and minimising the creation of wastewater is fundamental to a sustainable Australian
solution. From the outset, Branin Recycles set out to develop innovative P2P processes that do not increase stress on the environment, particularly in the use of process water in recycling and the creation of waste water discharges.

 

Water is required for the cleaning of some residues from plastics but this process water is recycled for re-use rather than being discharged to the environment. As process water becomes dirtier filtering is used to remove soil and food residues. These are composted and the cleaned water returned to the process. The result is zero discharge of dirty wastewater to the environment.

 

Where water must be used Branin Recycles has developed the use of recycled water rather than the use of fresh drinking water. Urban stormwater runoff and recycled sewerage water are the preferred sources of water for the P2P process. Water is also required as a functional aid in ’float-sink separation’ processes. Some plastics float and some sink, providing a safe, simple method for separating different plastics.

 

After these processes, water must be removed and plastic dried off. Water can ’stick’ to plastic in a ratio of 1:1. In the same way that clothes come out damp from a washing machine, water must be evaporated as processed plastic is dried off. It is the loss of water to evaporation that represents the consumption of water in the P2P process. In designing systems for the minimum use and recycling of process water, P2P by Branin Recycles has created a sustainable method for processing Australian waste plastic.

 

End markets for recycled plastic

It is no use recycling something if there is no end market for the recycled material. Australia imports plastics in packaging and finished goods such as cars, electronics, fashion wear and the wide variety of consumer goods used in modern life. The capacity for the relatively small Australian manufacturing sector to utilise recovered plastics to make new goods is limited. It does make sense, from a materials security perspective, to create scale P2P infrastructure to guarantee materials supply to Australian manufacturers. Many virgin plastics can now only be sourced from overseas suppliers, so a capacity to source locally from abundant local waste materials is a prudent investment. The capacity of Australian manufacturers to design innovative products is aided by the secure supply of local, cost competitive raw materials.

 

By aiming to create ‘same to same’ in a circular economy model, a sustainable recycling solution is more assured. If a waste plastic bottle or bag can be turned into a new plastic bottle or bag, the general use of these practical items assures a circular economy.

 

P2P by Branin Recycles works closely with end users of plastic products to assist in the development, marketing and commercialisation of compelling products containing recycled plastic. It is the patient development of these products that is the fundamental driver sustaining scale P2P infrastructure. Branin Recycles is always seeking development partners wanting to incorporate recycled plastics in products. It does not matter if the idea is large or small, the careful reconstitution of an old product or the invention of something wild and new, we are happy to support it in any way we can. Without the development of products containing recycled plastics, there can be no sustainable plastics recycling.

 

We are all united by a wish to protect the environment. Developing systems for circular economies take time, effort, ingenuity and capital. It does start with wishful thinking. We have developed a logo for P2P which is based on the dandelion seed flower. Blowing on a dandelion seed flower and making a wish is a positive thing to do. I do wish we can grow Plastics to Plastics and hand over a better model for using materials to our children.

 

We hope you find some compelling products described on this webpage and would be grateful if you could support a circular economy in plastics by choosing to buy and use them.

 

 

Edward Meysztowicz

Managing Director

Branin Recycles Pty Ltd