FLUXO brings plastic waste recycling technology to Brazil
FLUXO, in its permanent search for innovation and ESG, couldn't help but think about one of the world's biggest problems: plastic waste disposal, which today is a global concern, with huge islands in the ocean, some of them with the size of countries.
Thus, it has searched in Germany for BIOFABRIK, a company that has been developing plastic recycling technology through a chemical process, which is more complete than the mechanical recycling, already in operation in the country. The word recycling is used because plastic waste can be recycled and its product, called "syncrude", has a great value and can be reused in several ways, including as a basic raw material for the petrochemical industry.
Depending on the selection of plastic waste collected, it is possible to obtain products for the most diverse applications, from plastic for a more basic use, such as food packaging films, in agriculture, as well as, with the selection of nobler plastics, consequently, we can get products of superior quality, for its industrial reuse.
It is very interesting that each country's plastic waste is different from the others, according to the respective education of each one, which is a determining factor in waste disposal. In Brazil, for instance, plastic waste comes with organic products mixed in, requiring a "cleaning", before recycling, while, in more advanced countries, in the initial destination, the plastic is quite different. However, we believe that the most interesting discovery is that recycling in the petrochemical plant itself may be of interest to the internal circular economy group, recalling that reducing its products' costs with reuse once was not even considered.
Another aspect, which certainly must be emphasized, is how this "plastic waste" can be made available to the recycling plant. This is where other particular aspect of the ESG policy appears. There are already partnerships with the local Recyclable Waste Pickers' Cooperatives. This brings economic perspectives to these Cooperatives, which can now be encouraged by companies, municipalities, and other entities that are interested in the recycling economic activity to establish agreements of common interest.
BIOFABRIK has several size alternatives, starting with a 1 ton/day capacity plant and other much larger ones, such as the 50 ton/day plant being implemented in Australia, 100 ton/day in the United States, and 200 ton/day in Germany.
Initially, Fluxo will make these plants available with full after-sales support, throughout the country, by its own team, reassuring the eventual interested parties and,
in a second stage, is considering manufacturing in Brazil, under a licensing contract.
See diagram of the stages of the plastic waste recycling process