The equipment manufacturer considers chemical recycling a useful addition to recycle as much plastic waste as possible.

Erema announced that the Austrian group has joined the Brussels-based Chemical Recycling Europe association in July 2021. The machine manufacturer and provider of recycling services says it is doing so to intensify networking and cooperation in the plastics industry and joined Chemical Recycling Europe because it sees chemical recycling as a complement to mechanical recycling as a way to recycle the maximum amount of plastic waste overall. Erema believes that in order to achieve the European Union's targets for plastics recycling and the use of recyclates, the technical possibilities of mechanical recycling would first have to be fully exploited by expanding the collection, sorting and recycling infrastructure and by further developing technologies and end-use applications. For material streams where this recycling route reaches its limits, however, it were important to establish and use additional processes such as chemical recycling. "In many cases, mechanical processes are at the beginning of the process chain for chemical recycling in order to prepare input streams and ensure a reliable, continuous and energy-efficient material feed," explains Klaus Lederer, Technology Research Manager - Chemical Recycling at Erema Group GmbH. As a member of the Chemical Recycling Europe association, Erema would like to contribute the group's know-how, such as the adapted extrusion technologies already used in existing plants, to the further development of chemical recycling processes, sharpen its own understanding of the needs of plant operators and promote cooperation. According to Manfred Hackl, CEO of Erema Group GmbH, there are still a number of tasks to be solved in chemical recycling so that feasible Circular Economy solutions could be launched even faster.