The circular plastics hub in the Port of Amsterdam is expanding as a new plastics recycling plant will be constructed. Namely, Plastic Recycling Amsterdam (PRA) began construction of a plant this week.
The plant will initially process 17,000 tonnes of plastics annually and prepare them to be reused. Plastic will be washed, shredded and then routed through a magnetic bath.
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Using Magnetic Density Separation (MDS) technology, the plastics can be separated with a purity of 99% because different plastics have different weights. The plastics that remain will then be processed into new packaging materials. The plant can achieve a reduction of 90% of CO2 and 75% of costs in the supply chain.
Roon van Maanen, Director Circular & Renewable Industry at Port of Amsterdam, provided his comment on this development, saying that:
Using its innovative MDS technology, PRA transforms recyclable plastics into raw materials for new plastics, while non-recyclable plastics are converted into transport fuel by Integrated Green Energy Solutions Amsterdam, which is also established in our Port. Therefore this provides solutions for used plastics and means that Port of Amsterdam is a real circular plastics hub
The Port of Rotterdam has also undertaken a similar initiative. Specifically, s consortium of companies comprising Air Liquide, AkzoNobel Specialty Chemicals, Enerkem and the Port of Rotterdam Authority signed a development agreement for the initial investments in a waste-to-chemistry plant in Rotterdam.
The plant will be able to process 360,000 tonnes of waste into 220,000 tonnes or 270 million litres of ‘green’ methanol. This is more than the total annual waste from 700,000 households and reduces CO2 emissions by approximately 300,000 tonnes.
