First the mechanics, then the chemistry

The agreement is rightly called historic: Recently, the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) passed a resolution providing a global agreement to curb plastic waste. By the end of 2024, a legally binding convention is to regulate the entire life cycle of plastics. Bitterly necessary, after all, according to UN figures, around 400 million tons of plastic waste are generated worldwide every year, of which only about nine percent is recycled.

Herbold washing plant gets to the heart of PP hard plastics

The primary production of one metric ton of polypropylene – the world’s second most widely used plastic – requires some 5.2 metric tons of raw materials and releases 1.7 metric tons of greenhouse gases. By contrast, the use of one metric ton of polypropylene from secondary raw materials, such as plastic waste, results in only around 225 kilograms of resource consumption and just under one metric ton of greenhouse gases.