by Emma Cantrill
The UK generates over five million tonnes (5.5 million tons) of plastic waste per year and 80% of it is incinerated or sent abroad, with only 7% actually being ‘recovered’. We live in a world where the overwhelming majority of simple, everyday items such as televisions, toasters and motor vehicles are made from several different polymer types used in combination, which presents recyclers with their biggest challenge.
 Moulds at the 2K recycling plant producing EcoSheet using their powder-impression technique |
While technological developments have been improving for recycling single types of plastic for a wide variety of uses including food grade PET and HDPE, dirty and co-mingled waste still produces problems for the industry. Without any realistic prospect of separating co-mingled polymers back into their constituent elements, the quantity of plastics now headed for disposal - either in landfill or incineration - remains unwaveringly high. But why should we care?
Plastics are a valuable natural resource. They are derived from fossil fuels and are created at substantial energetic and environmental cost. And yet we have come to treat plastic as the ultimate throw-away consumer commodity - using it in an all-pervasive multitude of short-term applications. The net result is the perfect storm of conflicts whereby:
- our consumption patterns are rising relentlessly
- we are increasingly reliant upon plastics products within this consumption pattern
- these products are increasingly made from multiple polymer types - which are largely impossible to segregate and therefore recycle
- therefore we burn or bury used plastics and start the process again with virgin polymers
- this in turn relentlessly drives global resource depletion, and further aggravates environmental damage.
Luton plant provides solutions
A groundbreaking recycling plant in Luton, owned by 2K Manufacturing, launched in July 2009 and will provide massive benefits to the industry as well as the environment. Formed in 2007 with the express purpose of manufacturing industrial products from recovered waste plastics, 2K Manufacturing has won awards and recognition for its products from a number of respected sources including The Guardian Library House CleanTech 100 list of the ‘most promising private companies in Europe focusing on clean technology...’, a major commendation at The Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) Awards 2008, and the CIOB (Chartered Institute of Building) award for innovation 2007.
 Fully automated system at the 2K plant |
The secret behind the company’s success lies in the fact that it has targeted a specific area. 2K specializes solely in turning recovered waste plastic into valuable products – which in turn can be recycled again repeatedly. It has created EcoSheet – a flat board which can be used as a substitute for marine-grade plywood, intended for use in general construction and also in signage and display.
Helping the construction industry
When the new plant opened in Luton in July it unveiled a UK and world first – a closed loop waste solution for the construction and signage industries. EcoSheet, is the world’s first environmentally friendly plywood-substitute board made from recycled waste plastic that is, in turn, entirely recyclable itself. The product also has many other applications including signage, flooring and even furniture, but in the first instance, the company has chosen to work with the construction industry because of the environmental impact and landfill taxes relating to plywood.
The UK construction industry uses around five million sheets of plywood per year for temporary works, and most manufacturers require plywood to be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) which is transported over long distances. In addition, over 25 million plywood sheets are used a year which are not recyclable and have to be landfilled as hazardous waste, at a great expense to the industry.
EcoSheet has been trialled extensively at the Bovis Retail Development in St David’s, Wales, to great success. Wates construction, one of the leading providers of education facilities in the UK, is using EcoSheet for a multi-million pound Luton schools project.
EcoSheet – pioneering technology
To produce the EcoSheet, 2K Manufacturing uses a patented powder-impression moulding technique to reform co-mingled polymer waste into a strengthened plastic composite (which itself is environmentally sustainable), and then turns it into the EcoSheet. The co-mingled plastic is ground into powder which is then injected into moulds in three layers. Once the moulds are sealed, they are baked in order for the powder to set and form into rigid boards. They are then removed from the moulds and are ready for use. What is more, the whole process is fully automated.
Omer Kutluoglu, CEO and co-founder of 2K Manufacturing, explains, ‘This process will not only revolutionize the way we use waste plastics, it is providing an unbeatable product in terms of performance for these industries.’
The plant can take 25,000 tonnes of co-mingled polymer waste, from diverse sources such as post-consumer, automotive, waste, electrical, hospital and construction.
Industry expertise
The team has wide-ranging process manufacturing expertise gained in the manufacturing, construction and composite plastic industries, including Formula One. 2K has also appointed Peter Ball from Norbord, one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of wood-based products for the construction industry.
Working with the waste industry
Due to the range of waste plastic the process can take, complete with a level of contaminant, 2K is working with a number of companies in the waste industry across a wide range of sectors. EcoSheet can be manufactured from many types of waste and has been tested with a number of different streams including MSW, automobile, hospital, retail and WEEE.
Carbon benefits
The carbon footprint of this process is extremely low, and the use of these co-mingled plastics is also a key element of 2K’s environmentally conscious approach. Currently, all recycling plants and products in the UK are able to process only one or two types of plastic which need to be separated before they can be reprocessed. At the same time, in the general waste stream there are multiple types of plastic that are used to make a wide variety of products.
 One of the moulds at the 2K plant |
No effective way of separating the polymers back into their constituent elements after use has been developed. Due to the lack of a reliable separation technique, these plastics often end up in landfill or an incineration plant. 2K’s recovery of these co-mingled plastics is therefore doubly useful in environmental terms, as it avoids unnecessary creation of virgin polymers and saves on disposal of the co-mingled polymers. In addition, 2K can make use of the plastic waste from a wide range of waste streams: automotive, hospital, commercial, domestic and retail – just to name a few.
The EcoSheet, as well as being fully recyclable, is therefore a highly attractive alternative to the numerous board products which are manufactured from virgin polymers. In addition, it also offers a considerably stronger commercial proposition to use than the main alternative, plywood, when examined over the course of its lifecycle.
Diverting waste from landfill
When fully operational, the Luton plant will use 25,000 tonnes of waste plastic which would otherwise go to landfill. The plant is the first of 11 planned sites in the UK which, in total, will enable the production of up to four million pieces of EcoSheet each year. This technology goes part-way to providing a solution to the issue of the five million tonnes of waste plastic that go to landfill each year, 93% of which cannot currently be recycled. In addition, over 25 million plywood sheets are used a year which are not recyclable and have to be landfilled as hazardous waste, at a great expense to the industry.
Industry success
As mentioned the product has been trialled extensively by Bovis Retail Development in St David’s, Wales. As Omer Kutluoglu continues ‘the product has fantastic benefits over and above traditional plywood in addition to providing a solution to the demands of sustainable building. We are delighted that EcoSheet has performed so well and look forward to rolling it out across many other major companies and applications.’
Award winning
As well as the awards given to 2K the EcoSheet product has gained recognition on its own, including: first prize in the Innovative Technology category at Building Magazine Sustainability Awards; the Green Innovation in Construction Material Award at the Green Construction Awards; and was named National Green Champion in the construction category of the Green Apple awards.
2K recently secured a £5 million ($8.26 million) funding agreement with the Foresight Group, a leading environmental investor and a further £500,000 ($826,897) EEDA (East of England Development Agency) grant.
Emma Cantrill is director of Intellegent Profile Public Relations and works for a number of companies in the recycling sector
e-mail: emma@intelligentprofile.com
