For several types of plastics, a direct recycling solution does not exist. But they can be broken down - ‘depolymerised’ – to recapture their ingredients.
This process can, however, be pricey.
Hence, the investment by Orthios and its partners in innovatory Plastics to Oil (P-2-O) technology - a safe, cost effective and clean method of decomposing polymers to obtain an oil from which many vital ingredients can be harvested.
The advantages of the Orthios system are multiple but include:
- Reducing the amount of plastic sent to landfill or finding its way to our oceans
- Re-claiming the most useful components of existing plastics and so reducing the demand for the fossil fuels needed to make new polymers
- Further reducing fossil fuel dependency by providing industry with an emissions-lite source of many of the ingredients needed to create new products and in construction
- Creating heat which can be directed to future Orthios initiatives, including those in support of food security
- Re-positioning plastics waste as a valuable resource and driver of green jobs rather than a nuisance
