A top official of Veolia Middle East, a water, waste and energy management company, has called for a complete rethinking of the production and consumption of plastic to tackle the global challenge of plastic and waste pollution. 

 

In his keynote address on ‘Reinventing Plastic for a Circular Economy’ at the recently-concluded (June 21 to 24) International Recycling Week virtual conference, Ronald Richa, General Manager – Plastic Recycling at Veolia Middle East, said stakeholders ranging from petrochemical companies to brand owners and recyclers are taking action to support the development of a sustainable plastic recycling ecosystem.

 

In his address, he highlighted the importance of Veolia’s role as the leading plastic recycling company worldwide in building the circular economy, both in the UAE and beyond, through innovations such as the RECAPP mobile app, which provides recyclable waste collection at your door.

 

Richa also participated in a roundtable entitled ‘Show Us the Money: Plastic Recycling's Potential,’ alongside other industry experts. The discussion explored relevant topics including investment in recycling; big-ticket plastic recycling; price decoupling between the value of plastic scrap and virgin resin; and the diversion of “ocean-bound” plastics.

 

International Recycling Week is a virtual conference that connects delegates to the latest news and developments in the recycling industry. The event targeted four main segments - Plastics, Paper, Metals, and Construction and Demolition (C&D) recycling, and featured keynote speeches, panel discussions, presentations, tech talks and more.

 

The plastic recycling journey is about optimising collection, technological innovation, but most and foremost a shift towards a sustainable business model.

 

Decoupling the price of recycled resins from virgin plastic is key for the development of a healthy plastic recycling industry that produces quality products in the long term and that supports a growing demand.

 

Since 2019, there have been encouraging signs coming from the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) market as the price of the recycled food-grade PET resin started being decoupled from the fluctuation of the virgin resin and the oil price. This trend was made possible because of the environmental commitments taken by brand owners to increase their recycled content.

 

At the same time, recyclers managed to provide high quality products in line with the stringent specifications set by brand owners. 

 

This cooperation across different sectors of the value chain enabled the emergence of a sustainable PET recycling ecosystem with a business model that can be extended to other plastic resins. 

 

The first major producer of recycled raw materials, Veolia currently operates more than 200 material recovery facilities, 32 mechanical and 3 chemical plastic recycling plants, including 7 food grade facilities, with a new food-grade RPET plant to be launched in Abu Dhabi’s Khalifa Industrial Zone (KIZAD) in the near future. –Tradearabia News Service