EU-funded researchers have made an exciting discovery that could help combat plastic pollution. According to the European Commission, a team has developed a new application for a common recycled plastic: laminated glass.
Polyvinyl butyral is a popular type of plastic traditionally used for manufacturing coatings and textiles. One of the main challenges of recycling PVB is the presence of leftover glass pieces. These pieces make recycled PVB less clear, resulting in a limited product. As a result, the majority of it ends up discarded as plastic waste.
However, thanks to technology developments, researchers have found a way to successfully repurpose recycled PVB to make laminated glass. Researchers working under the European Union-funded project SUNRISE have created an advanced sorting system to separate and purify PVB, making recycled PVB a more viable product.
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Using a multisensor tool, the researchers developed a way to sort laminated glass waste according to the composition and condition of the PVB. Project coordinator Angélica Pérez Manso said the tool can sort through 100 pieces of laminated glass per hour, effectively categorizing usable and unusable pieces.
After the glass is sorted, it's then sent to a specialized facility for treatment. There, 790 pounds of PVB can be recycled per hour. Thus, the new system has the potential to recycle over 125,000 tons of PVB, per the European Commission.
Recycling PVB offers both economic and environmental benefits. By reducing PVB waste, the researchers are reducing material costs while also decreasing the total amount of plastic pollution across the globe.
The researchers are demonstrating the prototype tool in Spain.
"The most promising application we target is creating new interlayer films for laminated glass," Pérez Manso told the European Commission. "However, we are not stopping at glass but are also exploring other applications for recycled PVB, such as creating coatings, textiles and even components for energy storage devices like batteries."
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