Covestro, a German materials manufacturer, has launched its first physically recycled plastic production line in Shanghai.

"Covestro's world's first dedicated production line for physical recovery (MCR) polycarbonate (PC) has been officially commissioned at the Shanghai integrated site, with an annual capacity of 25,000 tonnes (equivalent to about 125 million laptop covers) to meet the growing demand for post-consumer recycled plastics (PCR). It mainly covers applications such as electronic appliances, automobiles and consumer goods." Recently, Wang Li, global president of Covestro Engineering Plastics Division, said in an interview with Surging news.

Covestro plans to supply more than 60,000 tons of recycled polycarbonate per year in the Asia-Pacific region by 2026 to meet strong market demand.

Polycarbonate is a kind of engineering plastic with excellent comprehensive properties, which is widely used in electronic appliances, medical supplies, building energy saving, automotive parts and other fields. Its waste recycling has been a major problem at home and abroad.

According to the "China Recycled Plastics Industry Development Report" data, the total amount of waste plastic recycling in 2022 in China is 18 million tons, down 5.3% year-on-year. At present, the recycling rate of waste plastic materials in China has reached 31%, which is at a higher level in the world, but there are still nearly 70% of the market to be tapped.

Wang Li said, "China's industrial chain layout is very sound and perfect, and the market potential is huge. To realize the cycle needs volume, to have an industrial chain can really realize the cycle. Therefore, a good foundation, coupled with clear policies and efficient implementation, has created China, the most potential market, to help the comprehensive cycle and rapid development. Therefore, many new products and applications are first tested in China, or quickly commercialized in China. For Covestro, the Chinese market is a role model in our global footprint, which is why we have placed Covestro's dedicated physical recycling line in China."

In addition, with the tightening of national regulations, the global demand for recycled materials has shown a surge trend. For example, the European Union has proposed a directive on end-of-life vehicles that sets strict standards for the use of recycled plastics. In addition, the demand for materials with high recycling content is further growing in areas such as consumer electronics.

In the context of strong demand, in the first half of this year, Covestro launched PCR polycarbonate with a recovered content of 90%. The product can achieve high saturation color and whiteness that are difficult to achieve with traditional high-content recycled plastics, and can reduce carbon emissions by 70% compared to original fossil-based products. The key to achieving this breakthrough was the rigorous screening of high-quality PCR raw materials and the precise optimization of the material formulation during the blend production process.

In the process of layout plastic recycling, Wang Li said, "The challenges are mainly from the development and improvement of the industrial chain and recycling system." As a producer, how to ensure the stability of quantity and quality in the supply of recycled raw materials is very important to trace the entire cycle. On the other hand, the application field of plastics is very wide, and how to form a long-term and economic recycling industry chain in plastic recycling on a large scale needs systematic policy and regulatory guidance."

According to reports, at present, the main sources of recycled materials for Covestro's production line include: drinking water buckets, discs, plates, and car lights, such as the 19-liter polycarbonate bucket of Nongfong Spring and the sunlight plate in the building plate. The polycarbonate material of these products has the characteristics of transparency, high polycarbonate purity, high recovery efficiency, mature supply chain, and relatively low complexity of physical recovery.

For the performance of recycled plastic products, Wang Li said, "Covestro PCR products are transparent, high strength, impact resistance, high temperature resistance and other properties can be comparable to new products. On the one hand, we strictly control and trace a series of recycling steps to ensure that the quality of each step meets the technical specifications, on the other hand, our PCR can meet the customized needs of many customers and help them achieve carbon reduction targets."

Covestro is one of the world's leading producers of high-quality polymers and their components, serving customers worldwide in the transportation, construction and living, and electrical and electronics industries. In addition, Covestro polymers are used in sports and leisure, cosmetics, healthcare and the chemical industry itself. By the end of 2022, Covestro has 50 production sites worldwide and approximately 18,000 employees.

In addition to physical recycling, Covestro is also developing chemical recycling of polycarbonate. Wang Li revealed that Covestro has recently successfully developed an innovative polycarbonate chemical recovery process in Europe, and has started the technical implementation of the pilot test of the process. In the future, chemical recycling technology will help Covestro recycle more waste plastics that cannot be recycled at this stage, help downstream industries develop more circular and low-carbon products, and accelerate the industry's transition to a circular economy and climate neutral future."