The European plastics industry, in collaboration with the European Commission, has made a commitment to advance the recycling of plastic products and has set itself the goal of reaching a 50% waste rate by 2040. Most plastics They are easily recyclable, but some composite materials such as laminates and those that incorporate coatings see their recyclability compromised by being made up of more than one chemical component.

For this reason, Aimplas, the Plastics Technological Institute, participates in the European Decoat project, which will develop recycling solutions for printed or coated textiles and plastics, thanks to which it is expected to reduce the volume of these finished products by 75%. landfill such as textiles, electronics, and automotive parts.

This project, financed by the European Union through the H2020 program, lasts four years and is led by the Belgian center Centexbel. The consortium that composes it is made up of 17 partners from the entire value chain that will develop solutions based on intelligent additives for coatings. Thus, intelligent additives such as microcapsules will be developed that will be activated by specific catalysts such as microwaves, heat or humidity. The expected result is a reduction in the carbon footprint of these products of at least 30%, as well as the generation of a business of 150 million euros in Europe in the medium term.

The role of Aimplas in this project is to select the components of the recycling pilot plant, as well as its configuration and the evaluation of the recycling process of textiles with coatings, domestic electronic devices and applications in cars and buses. In addition, it will analyze the quality of recycled materials and evaluate their possible applications.

The Decoat project is funded by the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement number 814505.