A new patent for recycling PVC has been developed by Ballarat inventor Dennis Collins. The owner of trucking business PaperFreight has long been interested in recycling and has picked up newspapers from local agents for years. With a noticeable decline in newspapers three years ago Dennis found himself looking for new recycling options to supplement his freight business of 50 vehicles.
A chance phone call from a client company presented him with a problem of how to recycle PVC. Seizing the opportunity, Dennis set off on a journey to find a viable recycling PVC solution.
Using desk research online and a lot of trial and error he came up with a formula for separating the thin plastic lining of coffee cups from the recyclable cardboard.
“I spent ages trying different chemicals”, he told the Melbourne Herald Sun. “There are half a trillion coffee cups produced in the world each year and nearly all of those go to landfill”
Recently Dennis has patented the process, and in conjunction with Melbourne- based company, Closed Loop Environmental Solutions, is looking to create a game-changing process for recycling PVC cup waste.
Closed Loop are looking to build a new plant in Melbourne or Sydney which would look to process 1000 tonnes of coffee cups. Whilst Dennis won’t reveal how he breaks down the waste his project has been picked up by Innovyz, a South Australian Government and Australian Stock Exchange-sponsored innovation program.
Recycling of coffee cups is gaining momentum with the ‘Simply cups’ recycling project that started in the UK now having the support of convenience store franchise 7-Eleven with collection points now being launched in 200 of their stores.
Recycal and its sister company CMA Ecocycle encourage research in all aspects of recycling. They continue to collaborate and work together to assist their clients tackle all sorts of metal and chemical recycling problems.
