“90% of our carbon footprint lies in plastic.
By producing our own recycled plastic, we reduce the carbon footprint and environmental footprint of the entire group by approximately 70%,” assures Arthur Lepage, president of the Reborn group.
The latter inaugurated the first line for deinking and recycling plastic packaging on Thursday February 29 in Bernay in Eure.
In the premises of XL Recycling, the group's historic site, Reborn invested 3 million euros for this new process.
“We start with an inked film, all red, all green, with lots of colors.
And we end up with a transparent product that can be reused in many applications,” continues Arthur Lepage.
The objective of virtuous plastic is also a big financial market for the Reborn group.
LP/Julie Guesdon
Plastic packaging is sorted from other waste and reduced to flakes before being immersed in an aqueous solution, heated to less than 100°C, which will loosen the inks.
The plastic obtained, in granules or film, has “the same properties as petro-sourced plastic” and is used to remake packaging, with the exception of food packaging which meets standards that do not allow the use of recycled materials.
Circular plastic promise
But today, domestic waste, our famous yellow bins, is not yet affected.
Reborn aims to recycle 45,000 tonnes of plastic packaging that it sources from industries.
The group has invested 35 million euros in all of its French production sites as well as its collection site in Poland and has created around fifty jobs.
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While plastic is the number one enemy of ecological policies, at Reborn, we focus instead on its strengths and on the development of the recycling market to resolve the problems it entails.
Because it is lighter than cardboard or glass, and can be recycled at a lower temperature and with lower water consumption, recycled plastic is a growing market.
Until we stop making plastic from oil?
“Today, we have around 30% recycling in plastic factories.
If we take the photo in 6-8 years, we will have completely changed the paradigm, plastic will have become circular,” promises Arthur Lepage.