Ultrasound imaging for quantitative evaluation of magnetic density separation

This thesis is dedicated to an investigation of the potential and technological possibilities of an inline ultrasound system as a quality control system for wet recycling of solid waste. The main targeted recycling technology is magnetic density separation (MDS), a novel technique that was investigated and technologically matured in a project...

Development Towards Circularity for the Flexible Film Supply Chain in the Netherlands: A Mixed Methods Approach from a Systems Perspective

A large part of the Dutch plastic waste is currently incinerated, with a high amount of greenhouse gas emissions as a consequence. If recycling is done efficiently, it could provide environmental benefit over energy recovery through incineration, especially in a low carbon economy where renewable energy generation becomes the new status quo....

TRACK Core: Towards a world-friendly asset tracker

2022 SODAQ, manufacturer of the general purpose asset tracker: TRACK, committed itself to take environmental and social responsibility and got rebranded as a ‘World-friendly IoT’ company. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the current TRACK product, performed by an external company, proved that decreasing the impact of the enclosure might provide...

Open Source Recycling: Developing an Open Source injection machine for recycled plastic

At this moment, the problem of plastic pollution does not need an introduction. Although recycling rates are slowly rising, plastic pollution remains one of the biggest threads to the global ecosystem. Especially in low-to-middle-income countries, industrial recycling systems are sparse due to their required investment.<br/><br/>Precious Plastic...

Transition of the mixed plastic household waste value chain: Almere as case in a multi-level analysis on innovation in the niche of recycling mixed plastics

Packaging plastics account for the majority of the household waste plastics. These plastics can be divided into a number of types of plastics, namely PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP, PS, EPS and others. However, many plastic packages consist of different types of plastics and are often contaminated, therefore these plastics end up in the mixed plastics....

Insights in the market of recycled plastic, with practical value chain research

The European Union (EU) landfilled and incinerated 600 million tons of waste in 2013, which could have been recycled and returned as raw material to the economy. Resource efficiency can regain this value and bring economic, environmental and social benefits. The EU has therefore adapted the Circular Economy Package with targets to stimulate the...

A Plastic Plate Press: A locally producible plastic plate press for bottom-up recycling in low-resource settings

This project deals with two problems, which in combination ask for a single solution. The first problem being plastic waste accumulation in low resource areas and the second being that production and construction materials in these low-resource areas are often very expensive. When these two problems are combined, an opportunity arises to...

Archimede, Research and design of a direct solar heated thermoplastic extruder for Ulundi Local Municipality

As we all know, plastic pollution is a global problem that is constantly growing, with adverse effects on societies, humans, and wildlife. <br/>Many initiatives are focusing on reducing and lowering the effects of plastic pollution. Nevertheless, this phenomenon is growing on a daily basis. <br/>Most of the harmful effects of plastic pollution...

Circular Economy of Mechanical Recycled Post-Consumer PP

Background: The growth of the global population in combination with technological development results in the need to improve the living conditions. This led to a significant and unsustainable increase in production of products. The unstable increase is especially the case for plastics, which have an annual worldwide production of over 288...

KNIL Magazijnen, The Creative and Learning Cluster of Plastic Waste: An alternative approach to heritage adaptive re-use in Bandung, Indonesia

The transformation of Knil Magazijnen into a creative and learning cluster of plastic waste constitutes my attempt to explore the boundaries of heritage adaptive re-use in Bandung, Indonesia and how through the design of an inclusive and healthy environment, social and environmental challenges can be addressed in a more integrated way. In a...

Plastic Identification Anywhere: Development of open-source tools to simplify plastic sorting

Plastic pollution is a well-known problem worldwide, and is still growing. It negatively affects humans and wildlife through animal death, groundwater pollution and incorporation of micro plastics in our digestive system. There are many initiatives focusing on reducing the negative effects of plastic pollution, but the amount of plastic consumed...

Development of an experimental setup for microwave assisted drying of PET; a feasibility study

With high global ambitions for sustainability and circularity and increasing energy prices, the recycling industry keeps innovating to keep up with political goals and customer demand. Reducing the energy consumption in the recycling process reduces environmental impact and reduces financial costs for the customer. A energy intensive process...