SÜDPACK and Clean Cycle signed an agreement for a long-term in-vestment in the unique CARBOLIQ technology developed by Recenso. The three companies — Clean Cycle, SÜDPACK and CARBOLIQ — aim to further expand available capacities for the innovative and highly efficient chemical recycling of a wide range of plastics. They plan to make currently non-reusable packaging materials suitable for recycling and for the circular economy that will be necessary in the future.

With the operation of the pilot plant at the disposal center in Ennigerloh, SÜDPACK and CARBOLIQ have reportedly proved that numerous material fractions as well as mixed and contaminated plastic wastes can be converted into a valuable resource. Apart from the large diversity of input materials, the CARBOLIQ process offers competitive advantages in terms of energy efficiency and low emissions. The oil recovered is virgin-grade quality and can be used by the plastics industry in the same way as fossil fuels to produce a wide spectrum of plastic granulates. These granulates can in turn be processed to produce high-performance films for sophisticated packaging applications which are required above all in the food industry.

So far, the cooperation partners have successfully applied the technology both for resource recovery from their own recyclable material flows as well as for recycling packaging materials from processing and from end customers. The Recenso plants for direct oiling work according to the catalytic tribochemical conversion (CTC) process and are unique in the world.

“Fundamentally, our joint vision is tackling the problem of high-performance flexible packaging materials that can’t be mechanically recycled with current technology. We aim to make them recyclable and therefore compatible with future needs. Thanks to the investment by SÜD-PACK and Clean Cycle, we’ll be able to create a closed-loop, high-performance and industrial-standard system that also handles these products. It will allow us to exploit the extremely promising potential of our technology,” says Christian Haupts, the CEO of CARBOLIQ. 

“In a wide range of applications, for example in the food industry, high-performance multilayer films with effective protective functions are the most efficient solutions for keeping all kinds of food fresh. And they’ll remain the best choice in the future,” says Dirk Hardow, business unit manager at SÜD-PACK. “That’s because they provide maximum product protection at minimum added weight. However, the drawback is that they can’t be mechanically recycled. Now CARBOLIQ offers a key system component for creating a circular economy in the food packaging industry which can’t be achieved solely with mechanical recycling, also due to existing legislation. So we see our investment in CARBOLIQ as an opportunity for SÜDPACK to expand the definition of plastic waste recycling beyond just mechanical recycling.”