Insight
Benvic’s Dot-R colors the new recycling future
The use of recycled polymer is a major part of today’s efforts to lower environmental impacts. The twin forces of regulation and consumer demand have raised expectations for a new generation of products where mechanically recycled polymeric content is a major option. Other eco-gains are available from chemical recycling and biobased content.
Think different for reaching the performance
However, in many instances and applications, like-for-like substitution of recyclate is simply not an option. Aside from structural and chemical material issues the use of recyclate introduces a significant ‘wild card’ into the business of product aesthetics and creating the right colors for products.
Such constraints have spurred on Benvic material engineers to show how their recycled polypropylene compounds are able to bridge the gap between the finished aesthetics of products made from virgin and recyclate.
Benvic’s 60 plus years of polymer compounding experience in the related polymer world of PVC materials gives the company a clear advantage when it comes to solving these issues.
Significant Benvic capital investment in recycling equipment and facilities in Q4 this year has declared the company’s intent that mechanical polymer recyclate is a key part of its portfolio. Naturally the inclusion of mechanical recycling feedstock leads to variations of performance and some limitations – the most visible one being color.
Benvic has therefore established workaround strategies to overcome the challenges of recycled color and aesthetics.
Colored plastic parts are mainly part of end product design and their perceived quality. Their look and feel is important, especially for consumer products. As consumers increasingly look acquire more and more sustainable products, so the aesthetics of such products will become more and more competitive.
Unsurprisingly, dark colors – from grey to black - are the easiest color range for Benvic to match and these also widen the option to maximize the recycled content.
Challenge & Expertise
When it comes to bright colors the sensitivity of the recycled feedstock has much more influence on the final results. In these cases the color matching process is often conducted via a retroactive process: depending on the feedstock sensitiveness, to be monitored and measured batch by batch and with the compound constantly being adjusted and aligned to compensate for the variation of the coloration.
Benvic has developed a number of systems and process capabilities to generate such color alignment, from feedstock handling and processing to production controls; The final results for green blue and red colors, for example, are performing very well. However, a constant alignment with material supplier and the designers need to be established from project start.
Some ‘stand out’ applications and products are coming to the fore for Benvic’s Dot-R compounds; including some that are also loaded with glass fibers.
Consumer products such as ‘high end’ furniture are already a classic application of Benvic’s color recycling expertise. A wide color panel of choices is possible here together with excellent functionality and perceived consumer quality. Electrical appliances and automotive parts also score highly in this regard.
At the same time Benvic acknowledge remaining limitations: light colors, for example, are more challenging and typically need more purity and homogeneous recyclate feedstock. This necessity then produces a significant impact on total costs – since availability and level of such recycled content is limited.
Benvic sees the changing role of the consumer as key in determining the future for colored ‘second life’ polymers and the desire to maximise the environmental benefit.
This is where Benvic’s polymer compounding expertise becomes key – optimizing the necessary balance between product aesthetics and the percentage of recyclate used.
It is all part of Benvic’s uncompromising service to the new circular economy, reflecting also the company’s core mission -
