Renewi plc’s Lelystad-based subsidiary has developed a conversion process using household organic waste.
A Dutch company has begun the process of converting organic household waste into bioplastics. Orgaworld, the organic waste subsidiary of waste-to-product business Renewi plc, has developed a pilot scale version of its hydrolysis bioreactor at its premises in Lelystad, the Netherlands, which will enable the production of the bioplastics in-house.
Bioplastics are more environmentally friendly than other types of plastic, owing both to their production – using less fossil fuels – and their decomposition, as they are biodegradable in nature.
The Lelystad bioreactor works by continuously spraying organic waste with hot percolate, which creates high bacteria concentrations. The bacteria then digest the organic waste, separating it into sugars, amino acids, fats, and other assorted microorganisms, which ferments to produce fatty acids. These fatty acids can then be converted, with the aid of other types of bacteria, into PHA, a biodegradable plastic.
The bioplastics produced will then re-enter the process, as they will be used for the production of recyclable bin bags for collecting more kitchen and green waste in the future, waste which will eventually return to Orgaworld to begin the same life cycle.
“We are delighted with our new closed-loop process to turn organic household waste into bioplastics, showing he we are using innovation to fulfil our ‘waste no more’ goal,” Bas Blom, Renewi’s Monostream Division Managing Director declared. “It is also completely in line with our strategy to create growth with projects using innovation as a competitive advantage.”
Orgaworld expects further development, taking the process to a full commercial scale, to take between three to five years.
