A commercial facility to recycle flexible packaging has been opened using technology provided by UK business Enval.
Based in Mexico, the plant has been opened by Greenback Recycling Technologies in partnership with Nestlé.
The Enval process turns flexible packaging into pyrolytic oil that will then be used by a petrochemical firm to create new polymers for new, food-grade plastic packaging.
So far the plant uses one Enval module, which will process the annual flexible packaging generated by 250,000 people.
Enval chief executive Carlos Ludlow-Palafox said: “We are very proud to see for the first time an Enval module operating commercially with real post-consumer waste that would otherwise have ended up in a landfill.
“It’s been many years in the making but all the experience that we’ve gained with our demonstration plant in the UK has been translated into a modular design that can quickly be deployed anywhere in the world. Our plan, together with Greenback, is to install many modules around the world to prevent thousands of tonnes of plastic waste going to landfill or, worse still, to our rivers and oceans.”
Greenback is planning further Enval modules in other parts of Mexico, Latin America and potentially other regions.
