The rigid plastic will be regenerated in the new Hera plant in Modena

Rigid plastics are the most difficult to recycle.The plant will be ready in 2025

MODENA – From computer keyboards to yoghurt pots, from detergent bottles to car bumpers.They are the so-called rigid plastics and they are the most difficult to regenerate effectively. However, thanks to a cutting-edge plant it will be possible to obtain up to 30,000 tons of high quality recycled polymers from rigid plastic waste. This is what will be built in Modena, in the shadow of the multi-utility hub Hera in via Cavazza, where the waste-to-energy plant and the wastewater purification plant already coexist.Here, with an investment of around 50 million euros, 7.7 of which financed by the Pnrr, Aliplast, a subsidiary of the group and a consolidated reality on the national scene in the collection, recycling and regeneration of plastic, is building a hi-tech plant which will treat rigid plastic waste, coming in particular from sectors such as consumer electronics and automotive, in which it will be possible to obtain high quality recycled polymers with characteristics comparable to those of virgin materials obtained from fossil sources.

The waste “they will enter our plant and come out in the form of granules or ground, which is the basic form of plastic, to be reused by these same industries that supplied us with the waste”, explains Carlo Andriolo, CEO of Aliplast.These polymers, even if recycled, will have such a purity that they can also be reused in the same sectors of origin with performances similar to those guaranteed by virgin materials.The method used by Aliplast, in fact, consists of in upcycling, that is, a regeneration that raises the quality of the starting polymer, thus achieving high-level quality characteristics.

“It means that these materials, in their recycling process, are not degraded and are selected in a homogeneous way, because Plastics are actually a family of quite different materials”, continues Andriolo.In fact, currently some of these plastics "are not recycled because the processes are unable to extract materials that have a sufficient value to explain the cost of the process, while others are already recycled today, but in slightly degraded materials that they cannot go back to being the computer keyboard."

Furthermore, the amount of plastic recycled in a year from the fully operational plant will save the environment emissions of around 30,000 equivalent tonnes of CO2, as well as mitigating the environmental impact of sectors 'forced' to resort until now almost exclusively to virgin raw materials.“We are building one of the most innovative plants in Europe for the recycling of rigid plastics, from cosmetic bottles to waste automotive components and consumer electronics - explains Orazio Iacono, CEO of the Hera Group - this is a project that is part of the environmental transition, as well as the energy transition that the group has been pushing for years."A circle that is closing, according to the CEO, but also an opportunity for development:in fact, the plant will employ around 50 people.“We provide the territory with new employment opportunities and a tool to support the circular economy– underlines the mayor of Modena, Gian Carlo Muzzarelli – it is a project which, together with that of the Hydrogen Valley, highlights how the Pnrr resources can contribute to achieving the ecological transition which is also part of the objectives of the Municipality's direct intervention program with the Next Generation Modena plan which continues respecting the roadmap".

Inside the hub, the new plant will be powered by electricity produced by the nearby waste-to-energy plant, while the production process will use the water coming out of the purifier, and then reintroduce it, following the concept of circular economy so dear to the multi-utility, which has foreseen 1.7 billion euros, or 39% of the overall total investments, equal to 4.4 billion euros, precisely to develop projects on this and on the regeneration of resources.Finally, the rigid plastic recycling plant will guarantee high standards of safety and innovation, with automation and high digitalisation of processes, also allowing energy efficiency to be maximized.The treated plastic will also be zero kilometre:the material processed in the plant will be selected mainly from the waste that the Hera Group already processes in its selection and recovery lines through Herambiente and involving the local production fabric.