New Swedish Recycling Plant Can Sort More Plastic Than Any Other Facility in the World

A new recycling plant in Motala, Sweden has the capacity to recycle more plastic packaging per year than any other recycling plant in the world, The Associated Press reported.

According to Svensk Plaståtervinning (Swedish Plastic Recycling), the plant, called Site Zero, can recycle up to 200,000 metric tons of plastic packaging annually.

The facility spans 60,000 square meters and can currently sort four different types of plastic. However, Swedish Plastic Recycling said that Site Zero will ultimately be able to sort 12 different plastic types, so it can take all plastic waste from households in Sweden. 

The facility can sort polypropylene (PP), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) trays and bottles, PP film, expanded polystyrene (EPS), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and two grades of polyolefin mix, as well as metal and non-plastic waste.

“This investment creates the prerequisites needed for making Sweden a world leader in plastic recycling,” Mattias Philipsson, CEO of Swedish Plastic Recycling, said on the Site Zero webpage. “Being able to do it together with our producer customers and owners, who consist of large parts of the Swedish business community, is very inspiring.”

The facility can sort about 1,000 packages per second using Near Infrared (NIR) sensors, artificial intelligence and laser and camera technologies. According to the company, the facility is also powered with renewable energy.

According to Philipsson, the former recycling plant where Site Zero is now located was only able to sort and send about 47% of plastics on for recycling, while the rest was sent for incineration, The Associated Press reported. Now, Site Zero will be able to send up to 95% of plastics for recycling.

From the sorting site, the plastics may be mechanically or chemically recycled. However, some researchers and environmentalists have warned that types of advanced recycling, like chemical recycling, can be environmentally harmful. Chemical recycling can require a lot of energy and emit greenhouse gases, Inside Climate News Reported.

Reducing and reusing are still the top goals to minimize waste and related pollution and emissions. But for the plastic that is still being used, a more efficient recycling facility like Site Zero could help recycle these materials for use in other products, creating less reliance on virgin plastics. A recent study published in Environmental Technology & Innovation found that recycling plastic reduces carbon emissions by about 42% compared to producing virgin plastic, although this can vary based on factors like type of plastic and recycling method.

“With Site Zero, we have set a new path for plastic recycling and the rest of Europe,” Philipsson said in a press release. “The world needs to follow suit, to reduce emissions from combustion and the need for new fossil plastics. It is no longer justifiable to burn as much plastic as we do or melt it down into low-quality products that cannot be recycled again.”