Injection moulding with recycled plastic. MPS presents the production line

Overcome the paradox of the plastic-environment dichotomy

In recent years, plastics have been at the centre of various debates involving industry, politicians, researchers and ecologists. Regardless of one's point of view, it is important to realise that plastics do indeed cause pollution, but that, as things stand, we cannot do without them.

It is important to remember that plastic is recyclable and that pollution is not due to its chemical nature but solely to human behaviour and a system that has yet to be optimised to collect used plastic and give it a new lease of life.

Under the Ronchi Decree, appropriate consortia were created to deal with the recovery of different product fractions. For plastics, this entity is the National Consortium for the Collection, Recycling and Recovery of Plastic Packaging (Corepla) and others such as CONAI and CONIP.
In the collection and recycling of plastic, Italy has a record to be proud of with a waste recovery rate of almost 80%. There are 35 plastic packaging waste sorting centres operating in Italy. The separate collection of plastic packaging waste has been started in more than 6,500 municipalities and the population involved is close to 90%.

This shows that if we could maintain these recovery values (and perhaps bring them close to 100%) plastics could be defined as an environmentally friendly and sustainable product.

In Italy only 43% of collected plastics are recycled, but the circular economy of plastics is growing fast

While Italy holds a record in the collection of used plastic, the same cannot be said of the rest of the world. In many areas, especially in the developing world, the use of plastic is still indiscriminate and there are no equally virtuous models and systems for collecting and recycling it.

Another principle on which great strides still need to be made is the fact that although plastics collection in Italy exceeds 80%, only 43% of this ends up being recycled, with the remainder still ending up in waste-to-energy plants and landfills.

There are several reasons for such a low recycling rate, mainly related to refining and production processes and techniques. For the circular economy of plastics to be closed, it is essential that the whole chain, collection - treatment - refining - production, is ready, organised and widespread. The prospects in this respect are promising.

In recent years there has been a significant growth in the number of companies collecting, treating and refining plastics, making them available for processing in the plastics industry. In many cases the refining techniques used give the recycled plastic characteristics that make it a complete substitute from virgin plastic.

Finally, the moulding industry is a strategic point in the circular economy of recycled plastics. Thanks to its technologies, it is able to bring to the market products that are fully comparable to those made from virgin plastics. This offer allows to spread a sense of responsibility and consequently the demand needed to support the circular plastics economy.

New moulding technologies with recycled plastics and changing big trends in the recycling industry

New technologies for sorting plastics at source, now make it possible to have 95% pure regenerated PP.

The availability of high quality raw materials, together with new techniques and processes for injection moulding of plastics, now makes it possible to obtain plastic products with extended characteristics and mechanical performance that are fully substitutable for similar products made from virgin plastic.

For the production of its recycled plastic products, MPS uses POLYPROPYLENE (PP), a filler-free thermoplastic material ideal for recycling due to its molecular structure.

New technologies, consolidated partnerships with important companies operating in the thermoplastic regeneration sector and the know-how acquired, allow us to use regenerated thermoplastic material to manufacture packaging products, such as pallets and containers, articles for the automotive sector and the design industry.