Plas’Tri and its research partners have secured financial support from the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region under the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Innovation Partnerships scheme – IDPOLY Project.
This research programme, led by the CETHIL laboratory at INSA Lyon, aims to overcome the current limitations of plastic identification technologies in the recycling sectors.
Today, the identification rate of polymers in recycling processes is around 15%; whereas, European targets require a significant improvement in performance. In 2024, France had to pay 1.6 billion euros in penalties to the European Union for failing to achieve recycling targets of 40%.
The aim of this project is to develop a new identification method that makes it possible to significantly increase this rate by precisely identifying the composition of the plastics:
- Polymers, multilayer materials and carbon black
- Additives
- Contaminants
- PFAS and other pollutants
This approach is based on new spectrometry technology combined with advanced optical modeling. The work will be based in particular on the Symbolic Monte-Carlo method, which makes it possible to accelerate identification calculations by a factor of up to 100 to 1,000 times; at the same time, improving the ability to quantify the concentrations of the different components present in plastics.
This project will bring together more than seven researchers around a common goal: providing the recycling industry with higher-performance analytical tools to accelerate the transition to a more efficient circular economy.
The implementation of this technology to meet the practical needs of the textile recycling industry is proceeding in parallel through Refashion’s innovation program, aiming to overcome limitations regarding the identification of multi-layer structures, positioning, depth, and dark materials (carbon black).
Website: https://plastri.fr/
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