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Source: AZOM
These include recycled nylon, packaging films, agricultural covers, automotive components, and large-format parts created through additive manufacturing. This transformation is made possible through innovative mechanical and chemical recycling processes, along with reactive extrusion technologies.
This initiative is supported by funding from the Valencian Institute of Competitiveness and Innovation (IVACE+i) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) resources. It brings together a consortium that includes AIMPLAS (Plastics Technology Centre), UBE, ZIKNES, and the University of Valencia. Their common goal is to close the life cycle of polyamides and reduce marine pollution through innovative, industry-ready solutions.
While many fishing nets are crafted from polyethylene or polypropylene, the project specifically targets polyamide nets, which are particularly suitable for chemical recycling. The molecular structure of polyamide allows for the recovery of monomers like caprolactam, enabling the creation of new polyamides with properties nearly indistinguishable from those of virgin materials.
Recycled polyamides are intended for various sectors, including packaging, agriculture, automotive, and 3D printing. Companies such as UBE are currently exploring their commercialization, while ZIKNES is modifying its equipment to validate large-format parts. Initial uses encompass packaging films, agricultural covers, automotive components, and large-scale 3D demonstrators.
The REDES4VALUE project is making strides in advanced processes such as hydrothermal depolymerization, ionic liquid-assisted solvolysis, and reactive extrusion, alongside comprehensive life cycle and feasibility assessments. One of the primary challenges faced is treating highly degraded nets laden with impurities; however, the preliminary results are promising.
This initiative is funded by the Valencian Institute of Competitiveness and Innovation (IVACE+i), through the Strategic Cooperation Projects program in its 2024 call for proposals, with co-financing from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
A team of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has engineered a recyclable yarn made from polyethylene, offering a scalable solution to the global challenge of textile waste. Detailed in ACS Materials Letters, the research was led by Svetlana Boriskina, a research scientist in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, alongside first author SeongHyeon Kim and co-authors Duo Xu, Volodymyr Korolovych, Domingo Flores-Hernandez, Kaniz Moriam, and Daniel Braconnier.
The MIT team demonstrated that garments crafted from the engineered yarn can be melted down at the end of their lifecycle and respun into fresh fiber or molded into solid plastic hardware, such as buttons and belt buckles.
ABB and Swedish textile impact company Syre have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore how automation, electrification, and digital technologies can support the development of Syre’s first industrial-scale textile-to-textile recycling facility in Gia Lai province, Vietnam.
The exploratory collaboration provides a framework to assess how advanced process control, quality optimization, and electrical infrastructure can enable safe, efficient, and scalable production of circular polyester.
UK retailer Aldi and dairy cooperative Arla Foods have partnered with recycling tech specialist Polytag to initiate an operational pilot aimed at tracking milk bottles through the UK recycling stream using advanced ultraviolet (UV) tagging technology.
Building on an initial pilot conducted in 2023, the collaboration seeks to gather granular, data-driven insights into how packaging moves beyond the point of sale and behaves within municipal waste systems.