PET waste in Brazil

About 80 million tons of PET are produced worldwide annually and these materials are normally used for a short period of time. Only in Brazil, more than 2.4 million tons of plastic end up in unregulated landfills or dumps every year. Mechanical plastic recycling does not offer an economically viable solution for all PET waste because of the following reasons: food contamination, use of multi-layer, colored and/or opaque packaging.

From an ecological and economic point of view, PET recycling is an urgent necessity. If the current business model (linear economy) continues, one fifth of crude oil will only be used for the plastic production in 2050.

Brazil faces a great need for a robust and economically viable solution that adds end-of-life value to PET products and their respective wastes. The revolBRAS project aims to provide an adequate solution to this challenge, thus including the necessary collection, sorting and reverse logistics, as well as the processing of PET waste based on the continuous chemical recycling technology revolPET®.

A circular economy for Brazil

The general concept of the revolBRAS project foresees the establishment of structures for a decentralized PET waste collection and recycling system with the involvement of the revolPET® technology. Waste pickers from the Brazilian informal sector should receive, in particular, additional and secure income options.

The development of self-sustainable economic structures for the collection and recycling of plastic waste containing PET will positively influence the creation of new jobs in Brazil. By merging material flows at a central recycling point, an efficient process with considerable volume is developed. The revolPET® technology is the heart of this process. Its objective is to conserve resources and minimize pollution and environmental risks.

Waste collectors (Catadores) collect recyclable plastic waste — About 90 per cent of all recyclates are currently collected through the informal sector.

Our project partners

Projects are always successful when competent partners work together to achieve the same goal.

The revolBRAS research project is funded through the Client II initiative of the German Federal Ministry for Research and Education. The project partners are the Technical University of Braunschweig with the Institute of Chemical Engineering and Thermal Processes, the Fraunhofer Institute of Chemical Technology, Source One GmbH and Leistritz Extrusionstechnik GmbH. The partners in Brazil are the University of São Paulo, the Brazil-Germany Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Weee.do Ltda.