This pilot project, as part of the realCYCLE project enabled by the Migros Pioneer Fund, is being designed and implemented jointly with stakeholders in the plastics value chain. The overarching theme of realCYCLE is to understand and align the entire value chain of plastic packaging as a closed loop. The systemic requirements and framework conditions for scalability are being investigated, and concrete opportunities are being identified to enable a comprehensive and sustainable plastics circular economy in Switzerland.
Key topics
- Technologies in the field of plastic markers: advantages and disadvantages, selection criteria, suitability in the context of developments with artificial intelligence
- Recyclates that we can use: Into which fractions must plastics be sorted so that a plastics circular economy can be created? Where are there regulatory obstacles?
- Future developments: How do product design, available recycling or sorting technologies influence the selection or use of plastic markers?
- Benefits inside and outside recycling: What can a plastic marker really do?
Objectives of the pilot project
The complexity of material flows significantly hinders the establishment of a circular economy for plastics. The wide diversity of plastics and the additives they contain, as well as their use in composite materials, currently prevent an efficient recycling system for post-consumer plastics. A circular economy requires high recyclate qualities. The production of high-quality recyclates, in turn, requires fractions that are as pure as possible.
And this is precisely where the pilot project comes in:
The pilot project «Marking Plastics – the Path to a Circular Plastics Economy?» examines the application of plastic markers for the marking and subsequent sorting of plastic packaging in Switzerland. The results should demonstrate whether marking is feasible, economically viable, and ecologically advantageous. The entire value chain is included to avoid trade-offs between individual processes.
What we are currently working on
The first phase of the project is guided by the question «How can plastic markers contribute to a sustainable circular economy for plastics?». We focus on the following questions:
- Technologies in the field of plastic markers? Advantages and disadvantages, selection criteria, suitability in the context of developments with Artificial Intelligence
- Recyclates that we can use: Into which fractions must plastics be sorted to enable a circular economy for plastics? Where are the regulatory obstacles?
- Future developments: How do product design, recycling technology, or sorting technology influence the selection or use of plastic markers?
- Benefits within and outside recycling: What can a plastic marker really do?
Since the last meeting with stakeholders interested in the topic of markers, various information on European projects has been collected and discussions have been held with individual industry partners.
Holy Grail 2.0
The Holy Grail 2.0 project is currently conducting semi-industrial practical trials in Copenhagen. Here are a few keywords:
- Practical trial in cooperation with the city of Copenhagen at two locations (from October 2021, duration approx. 4 months), around 125,000 packages from approx. 260 stock-keeping units
- Sorting module (prototype) from Pellenc ST / Digimarc or Tomra
- Review of all parameters for full-scale industrial scaling
- Sorting into food and non-food or by polymer types
- If successful: Introduction of marked products on the market (DK, FR, DE), 1st semester 2022 and industrial sorting (Phase 3: trials until Q3 2022)
We are observing these trials and will report on them continuously. We will continue to focus on the issues listed above.