B.I.G. Talks: Making plastics circular, a distant dream or a real prospect?

In this series, we meet up with 10 inspiring B.I.G. experts. They each have a distinct vision of what tomorrow’s (business) world should look like. Normally, they prefer to stay behind the scenes. But for B.I.G. Talks, it’s all cards on the table. First up: Pieter Vanoosthuyse, Business Development Manager for Recycled Polypropylene, on the future of plastic waste.

“It’s hard to think of a material that generates so much controversy as plastics”, says Pieter Vanoosthuyse. “Because of their light weight and extreme durability, plastics serve millions of purposes in our daily lives. But that’s also their main flaw: plastics are so durable, that the majority of what has been created is still present in our ecosystem today – much of it as waste. One of mankind’s biggest challenges is to turn the fluctuating love-hate relationship into a sustainable relationship.”

Call for a structural change

The World Economic Forum predicts that, by 2050, plastic waste in the oceans will outweigh the fish. Isn’t it better to just move away from plastics all together?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “No. Plastics aren’t the problem. They often replace scarce materials within our everyday lives, from preserving our food and drinks, enabling transportation and securing a safe living space, to lifesaving essential medical supplies, hygiene applications etc. In short, we need plastics. What we don’t need, are non-circular product designs; and mismanaged end-of-life streams.

Are single-use plastic products the main culprit?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “It is all about design and how we handle the products after use. We urgently need to break with our linear take-make-waste model. According to UNEP (United Nations Environment Program), only 14% of plastic waste is recycled in Europe. The remainder ends up in incinerators (48%), and in landfills (28%), is exported to non-EU countries (8%), or turns into litter (2%). With plastics production set to double within the next twenty years, the absolute numbers will only get worse, unless we stop thinking of plastics as future waste, but as circular resources.”

"We need to stop thinking of plastics as future waste, but as circular resources"

Eliminate, Innovate, Circulate

What’s the first step in creating a circular economy for plastics?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “We focus on eliminating the non-circular solutions; innovating products, processes and business models; and circulating our materials through value chain collaborations. By designing out waste from the start, for example by developing latex-free solutions we can guarantee high-end recyclability. Every person, not only within our company, but throughout the entire life cycle of our products, has an impact when it comes to keeping valuable materials inside the circle. But it all starts with the collection of materials. Access to high quality feedstock is crucial in the circular value chains.”

Advanced recycling: when virgin-like quality takes over

If plastics recycling isn’t a technical or technological issue, what’s holding us back?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “Most recycling capacity available today, is within thermomechanical recycling. Plastics are shredded, melted and granulated. The big advantage is that this rather low-investment, low-footprint approach produces large volumes of recycled plastics. Also, the smaller the circle, the lower the eco-impact. The downside? Your input is basically your output. For example, today, you can’t turn a black, odorous polypropylene granule into a transparent, odorless granule. You’ll always get a granule in return with the same odor, color and other properties, with slight viscosity increase.

Which alternative is there for mechanical recycling?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “Next to the mechanical, there are also the advanced recycling options such as chemical recycling and solvent based recycling. These emerging advanced recycling technologies have the potential to feed all types of plastic into an infinite recycling system. Simply put, chemical recycling breaks plastics down to their mere chemical building blocks, which then can be used for new applications. In terms of recyclate quality, it doesn’t get any better than this. Within B.I.G., we’re exploring the potential of all options, as well thermomechanical and advanced recycling technologies.”

So, your plea is for a shift from high-volume recycling to high-quality recycling?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “Definitely. Mechanical as well as chemical recycling have their complementary merits. The goal should not only just be to recycle as much as possible, but also to obtain the best possible quality of recyclates at all times, taking into account the lowest possible eco-impact.” 

"We shouldn’t just recycle as much as possible, but also obtain the best possible quality of recyclates"

Do you think the criticism on chemical recycling processes for being too energy intensive, and thus environmentally harmful, is justified?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “That’s the type of comment you get when you look at a circular solution through a linear lens. The idea is to assess the bigger picture. Look at the production-related CO2 emissions and incinerated waste that you manage to avoid by multiplying product’s lifecycles instead of creating new ones each time.”

Wanted: Circular Value Chain collaborations

Why is B.I.G., a plastic converter, so committed to plastics recycling?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “For us, downstream and upstream circular value chain collaborations are the only way forward, if we want to establish a circular economy for plastics. That implies that every actor in the value chain has a crucial role to play in keeping maximum material in the loop, at its highest value, for as long as possible. Each actor within the circle has its own core values and business model, e.g. from a collector, to a pre-treater, to a recycler. So as a plastics convertor, its crucial to understand and optimize the value within the circular value chains.

The future lies in our hands

On what, in terms of making plastics circular, should we focus in the next years?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “Next to incentivizing and circular value chain collaboration, the priorities should be innovation, technology, digitization and traceability. I expect advances on various fronts. Digital product passports are in the making, while we’ll also see the surge of creative eco-designs, new recycling technologies and much more.”

So, what do you think: are circular plastics a distant dream or a real prospect?

Pieter Vanoosthuyse: “The bottom line: it’s up to us. We start producing the circular solutions of tomorrow, today. As a real prospect, I believe we can make B.I.G. things happen in the circular economy.” 

"We start producing the circular solutions of tomorrow, today"

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