Bolstering a stronger circular economy through enhanced recycling technology
The habits of a linear economy (make, use, dispose) are beginning to be replaced with enhanced recycling which promotes the concept of a stronger circular economy fit for today’s environmentally aware society.
Coca-Cola has developed its own upcycling system using enhanced technology to create bottles made from recovered and recycled marine plastics. The technology uses innovative processes to break down ocean plastic and extract impurities from lower-grade recyclables to allow them to be reused as higher grade materials. The new technology has been constructed to essentially grind, wash, separate, rinse and dry polyethylene terephthalate (PET) materials before they can be reintroduced as a manufacturing material for further processing.
This enhanced technological process allows for lower grade plastics which were previously incinerated or dumped into landfills to be recycled into food-grade products. An awarding outcome of this new technology is that the same material can be recycled on a rolling basis.
Coca-Cola’s new bottles made from marine plastic demonstrates the potential behind manufacturing technologies. The increased use of enhanced recycling equipment will create a stronger circular economy due to greater regenerative techniques.