Impact Recycling

Post-consumer non-recycled plastics continue to end up in landfills due to much of it being hard to sort. Impact recycling are implementing their innovative BOSS technology to boost the percentage that can effectively be recycled.

Only 15% of plastic is recycled today. This primarily consists of plastic bottles as they are easy for machines to identify and sort due to their standardised shape and colour. Unfortunately, many non-standard plastics cannot be sorted so easily, particularly black or dark plastics which make up an estimated 30% of all post-consumer plastics.

The good news is that progress is being made with the Baffled Oscillation Separation System, or BOSS, developed by David Walsh and his team at Impact Recycling. The water-based density separation system sorts plastics exclusively on properties, rather than other variables. Initially designed for sorting rigid plastics, Impact Recycling is now transforming its BOSS 3D technology into a 2D system for sorting flexible plastics.

With support from the Sustainable Innovation Fund, Impact Recycling has been able to fund essential research and development for its new BOSS 2D technology. The team hopes to bring the innovative system to plants all across the globe, saving the equivalent of 4.2 tonnes of CO2 for every tonne of plastic recovered