This UK pilot project could help recycle flexible laminated packaging

Aluminum from cans has been recycled for decades. But cans are not the only source of aluminum that could be recycled if the technology could be developed. According to a recent article in Cambridge News, a company in the UK has developed a recycling innovation to extract aluminum from flexible laminated packaging, such as food and drink pouches, pet food pouches and toothpaste tubes.

Since 160,000 metric tons of such packaging containing 17,000 metric tons of aluminum is used in Great Britain each year, the process represents a commercial opportunity that might be worth up to 200,000,000 British pounds a year.

The process uses microwave energy to degrade the plastic parts of the packaging into pyrolytic oils that can be used for a variety of purposes such as biofuel. The remaining aluminum is left untouched and is easily extracted for recycling.

Enval, a firm in Cambridgeshire, England is conducting a nine-month pilot project to see if the process is feasible. The project involves a centralized plant the Alconbury Enterprise Zone, near Huntingdon and 260 private houses in three different parts of the UK. While the recycling plant ascertains if the process if economically suitable, local officials will experiment with various ways to incentivize residents to put out used flexible laminated packaging with the rest of their recyclables.

If the process is seen to work in the pilot project, it will presumably be expanded nationwide throughout the UK in due course. The recycling process will without a doubt be useful in other countries, such as the United States, diverting more trash from landfills and extracting useful material out of it.