Circular economy for big bags at K 2019

Worldwide, more than 380 million 4-loop big bags are sold every year, this equals an annual recycling potential of approximately 800,000 tonnes. Therefore, Starlinger has developed the concept “circular packaging” for big bags made from polypropylene fabric.

The concept begins with polypropylene granulate and leads back to polypropylene degranulate (rPP) through the process steps production, usage, recovery and recycling. A closed loop has the advantage the production occurs within a quality insurance system, and the materials used are documented in a so-called “material passport”.

At the beginning of a closed loop stands the creation of a uniform material stream. After use, big bags are returned to the big bag filler; this guarantees that they a similar in composition and show the lowest possible degree of contamination, as they do not enter the post-consumer stream. At the manufacturer, the used big bags are shredded, washed, and processed into rPP on the Starlinger recycling line Recostar dynamic, thereby yielding secondary raw materials for the production of new big bags.

Starlinger Recycling Technology at K: Hall 9, Booth D22