The EU's ambitious recycling targets, the (voluntary) commitments of the chemical industry and brand manufacturers, as well as customer demands, are putting the recycling sector under enormous pressure. The large proportion of non-recycled waste streams contrasts with the demand and search for renewable raw materials for chemicals and materials. This raises the question of which technologies are best suited to which waste stream and how the environmental impact should be assessed.

Recycling Sector under Development Pressure

Advanced recycling technologies are developing dynamically, with new players entering the market all the time, from start-ups to chemical giants and everything in between. The third edition of the two-day Advanced Recycling Conference (ARC) in Cologne and the recently updated study ‘Mapping of Advanced Plastic Waste Recycling Technologies and their Global Capacities’ aim to manage the wealth of information. They provide an overview and a deeper insight into all available recycling technologies, their processing capacities for different plastic waste streams, production capacities, as well as political issues and environmental impacts.

Advanced Recycling Boosts Sector

The extended program of the Advanced Recycling Conference addresses the most pressing issues facing the recycling industry. In addition to plastic packaging recycling, this year’s conference will focus on other urgent topics such as E-waste valorization, PVC recycling, textile recycling, and the utilization of advanced recycling for engineering thermoplastics. Another focus will be on advanced recycling through the lens of investment and funding strategies. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore a comprehensive range of recycling technologies including extrusion, dissolution, enzymolysis, solvolysis, pyrolysis, thermal depolymerisation and gasification with Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU). The program also includes discussions on pre- and post-treatment technologies and digital innovations that are shaping the future of recycling.

The following sections will be discussed:

• Perspectives of Advanced Plastics Recycling
• Markets, Investments and Funding
• From Polymer to Building Units and Back to Polymer – An Excursion Through Different Depolymerisation Technologies
• Dissolution Technologies for Recycling of Commodity and Engineering Plastics
• From Recovery of Feedstocks to Products
• Thermochemical Recycling
• Insights into Policy, Sustainability, Mass-balance and Alternative Naphtha
• Different Approaches, Challenges, and Expanded Use of Physical Recycling Technologies
• Depolymerisation Technologies for PET
• Pre-/Post Treatment and Upgrading

With these key topics, the Advanced Recycling Conference 2024 offers a relevant platform for technology providers, related industries, waste management companies, plastics manufacturers, brands and investors as well as policy makers and scientists working in the diverse and interdisciplinary field of recycling. By bringing together all key stakeholders, the event offers networking opportunities and a framework for new partnerships, ideas, approaches and value chains. Building on its rapid success, ARC has seen a 30 % increase in participation, with nearly 300 attendees from 26 countries joining the 2023 event.

Advanced Recycling Conference (ARC)
20-21 November 2024
Cologne, Germany (Hybridevent)
www.advanced-recycling.eu

Organizer:
Nova-Institut GmbH

Contact:
Nova-Institut GmbH
Mr. Dominik Vogt
Tel. +49 2233 460 14 00
dominik.vogt@nova-institut.de

Report:

Mapping of Advanced Plastic Waste Recycling Technologies and their Global Capacities

The study, published in February 2024, presents a total of 127 advanced recycling technologies that are currently on the market or will be in the near future.

The 276-page report is available at www.renewable-carbon.eu/publications.