£30m research project launched to decontaminate plastic packaging

Research to decontaminate plastic packaging for recycling has received funding from UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Smart Sustainable Plastic Packaging (SSPP) Challenge.

The University of Nottingham project is part of £30m in funding awarded today to 18 collaborative projects that support the achievement of the UK Plastics Pact and have the potential to alter the UK’s relationship with, and management of, plastic packaging.

The SSPP Challenge represents the largest Government investment into sustainable plastic packaging and waste management, and the results of the two funding competitions announced today leading to 5 large-scale demonstrator projects and 13 business-led research and development projects benefit from this backing.

Each has demonstrated its value in addressing the need to transform the UK’s retail and packaging supply chains and support the development of more sustainable approaches to plastic packaging use through a range of circular economy business models, novel polymer materials and new recycling technologies.

The University of Nottingham’s School of Chemistry is part of the COtoCLEAN multi-partner project led by NexTek Ltd that is developing a waterless, non-toxic cleaning process for polyolefin films that are commonly used for packaging edible and non-edible goods.

The process is based on using low-pressure super-critical CO2 (scCO2) combined with green co-solvents to remove oils, fats and printing inks.

Professor Steve Howdle, Head of School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham is leading the research that is being undertaken in collaboration with Unilever, Amcor, Viridor, Allied Bakeries, SUPREX and Bangor University.

Professor Howdle commented: ‘Plastic film waste is one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges as these materials are some of the most difficult plastics to recycle yet are produced and used in huge quantities each year.

“Using Nottingham’s expertise in supercritical carbon dioxide, the COTooCLEAN project aims to deliver a revolutionary commercial process that can efficiently and sustainably decontaminate post-consumer plastic film with the aim to get them back to food grade status so that they might be recycled.”

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