Provider of sustainable supply chain and dynamic CO2 traceability, Circulor, has announced a partnership with the broad energy company, TotalEnergies, and chemical recycler of plastic, Recycling Technologies, to develop a blockchain-enabled traceability solution for ‘hard-to-recycle plastics’ (HTRP).
The project is being assisted with financing from Innovate UK.
Project TRACKCYCLE will embed blockchain technology into the advanced recycling value chain, with the aim of providing a fully traceable and accurately labelled record of recycled materials, from the waste sourcing up to the use of recycled polymers in new production streams.
This will provide all the stakeholders in the polymers industry with visibility of the provenance and quality of the materials entering and exiting their facilities.
As part of the TRACKCYCLE project, TotalEnergies and Recycling Technologies teams will leverage their industrial and R&D expertise to improve the traceability of feedstock from post-consumer plastic wastes used in the production of recycled polymers.
The consortium will work closely with several plastic waste suppliers, including a multinational FMCG company that provides post-industrial waste.
This collaboration with Circulor and Recycling Technologies is an excellent example of innovation to develop more traceable recycled polymers.
The UK Government is introducing a plastic packaging tax next year on packaging that does not contain 30% recycled plastic, while the European Union will introduce a packaging levy. Both these initiatives further exemplify the need for accurate information on plastic recycling and its use in new materials.
Douglas Johnson-Poensgen, CEO of Circulor, said: “We are on a mission to make the world’s most complex industrial supply chains more transparent in order to prevent the exploitation of our planet.
“We all contribute to plastic waste on a daily basis and Circulor’s traceability platform will play an important role in introducing visibility where it is currently lacking.”
Valérie Goff, Senior Vice President Polymers at TotalEnergies, highlighted: “This collaboration with Circulor and Recycling Technologies is an excellent example of innovation to develop more traceable recycled polymers. It reinforces our commitment to move advanced recycling forward and contributes to our ambition of producing 30% recycled and renewable polymers by 2030.”
Adrian Griffiths, CEO of Recycling Technologies, commented: “We believe this project will bring about the benefits of linking inbound waste provenance with outbound quality and destination for each unit of Plaxx produced.
“Full transparency is key to gain trust, incentivise sustainable practises and provide stakeholders with an optimised supply and logistics value chain, contributing to increased recycling rates.”