Removing hazardous substances to increase recycling rates of WEEE, ELV and CDW plastics
The NONTOX project aims to develop and optimize innovative solutions to improve the recycling rates of plastic waste containing hazardous substances and to produce safe, high-quality plastic products. Increasing plastic recycling rates is crucial for the implementation of a circular economy, as clearly established in the EU Plastics Strategy. NONTOX focuses on removing hazardous and unwanted substances from plastic waste while considering the entire value chain: sorting and pre-treatment technologies, recycling, and post-treatment. It also addresses the conversion of non-recyclable plastics and recycling process residues into commercially valuable products, thereby increasing the overall value generated by the process.
The NONTOX project will focus on recovering plastic materials from WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), ELVs (End-of-Life Vehicles), and C&D (Construction and Demolition) waste streams that contain hazardous additives or unwanted compounds such as flame retardants, stabilizers, fillers, and others. To achieve this objective, NONTOX will develop two different technologies (Extruclean and CreaSolv®) capable of removing these hazardous substances from plastic waste. The main recycled products will include plastics such as ABS, EPS, PS, HIPS, PE, and PP, which together account for nearly half of the EU’s demand for plastics. This highlights the importance of recycling these materials rather than sending them to landfill or incineration, as is currently the case for a significant proportion of this waste.
The NONTOX project will also advance knowledge and the state of the art in the pre-treatment and sorting of plastic waste containing hazardous substances. Thermochemical conversion of non-recyclable plastics and residues from the main recycling processes will be investigated to improve the overall efficiency of the system by expanding the range of end products and applications. NONTOX brings together a multidisciplinary consortium comprising internationally renowned research centres, universities, leading industrial partners and recyclers, as well as product design experts.
IMDEA Energy will be responsible for the thermocatalytic conversion of plastics that cannot be mechanically recycled, as well as residues generated by the new recycling processes, and for the safe removal of hazardous substances from these streams. The expected advances in thermocatalytic conversion will contribute to increasing the recycling rate of plastic waste by preventing the landfilling or incineration of materials that are not suitable for mechanical recycling.
