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AGRO2CIRCULAR project : for the reuse of agricultural disinfection plastics as high barrier plastics
AUTHOR : Blasi MARTÍNEZ RUIZ, Laboratory Manager, CEntro TECnológico del Calzado y del Plástico (CETEC) & Fuensanta MONZÓ SÁNCHEZ, Head of R&D of Sustainability, Circularity and Footwear, CETEC, Agro2circular project’s Coordinator & Alejandro ARRIBAS AGÜERO, Head of R&Di in Advanced Materials, CETEC & José Mª BAÑOS TUDELA, Quality Manager Laboratory, CETEC
With regards to a more efficient and sustainable circular agriculture, the recovery and reuse of plastic waste are key issues for the future of agricultural plastics. In Spain, CETEC is leading a European research project on the recovery and reuse of disinfection plastics. Blasi Martinez Ruiz, laboratory manager at CETEC, presents its work and objectives.
CETEC (https://ceteccentrotecnologico.org/) is coordinating the AGRO2CIRCULAR project (agro2circular.eu), funded by the European Union under grant agreement 101036838 of the H2020 R&D framework programme. This project involves research centres and companies from different European countries, in order to develop a global solution in the region of Murcia (south-east Spain) to enhance the value of agricultural waste and recover it for use as raw material in production chains.
Specifically, fruit and vegetable waste will be used through sustainable extraction assisted by ultrasound, enzymes and microwaves to obtain dietary fibres, phenols and carotenoids to be used in food, nutraceutical and cosmetic formulations. Other waste to be recovered will be plastic waste from the food industry, notably aseptic bags and disinfection films.
Aseptic bags
Aseptic bags with a multilayer structure will be recovered by separating the aluminium and PET/PE (polyethylene terephthalate/polyethylene) layers, using optical separation and delamination techniques, which will be recycled enzymatically to obtain terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, which are used to obtain PHBV (PolyHydroxyButylValerate) polymers by biotechnological means.
The waste from the films used for greenhouse soil disinfection are barrier films consisting of several layers of EVOH (ethylene vinyl alcohol), or another polymer with good gas barrier properties. They allow the efficient disinfection of the soil, e.g. a 40 mm 5-layer fumigation film composed of LLDPE-adhesive-barrier-adhesive-LLDPE. These films will be subjected to a cleaning and decontamination process and then treated with aluminium from the delamination of aseptic bag waste to produce high barrier films for agricultural and food use.
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