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Date
15.08.2023
Focal areas
Resource efficiency and circular economy
Regions
Brazil
Linked project
revolBRAS: Additional funding, new international contacts and final results of the gravimetric study
The company RITTEC (project lead), Brazilian consultancy Circulagem and a Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer have received further funding to study the recycling of PET-packaging from the cosmetics industry. In addition, two Brazilian students will have the opportunity to travel to Germany as part of an international exchange programme to work on the revolBRAS project. Since the last update, the project has completed an extended gravimetric study with five Brazilian waste collectors’ cooperatives, with the results now available.
After winning the “Startups Connected 2022” competition, RITTEC participated in a roadshow in Brazil. This journey led to valuable contacts and partnership opportunities in Brazil. As a result, RITTEC was able to form a consortium with the consultancy Circulagam and a Brazilian cosmetics manufacturer. The consortium is investigating the recyclability of coloured PET-containing cosmetics packaging and is receiving additional funding for this research through a Brazilian funding measure. The project aims to support the implementation of an integrated recycling solution for PET-containing waste from the cosmetics industry.
Through partnerships with the University of Sao Paulo (USP) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology (Fraunhofer ICT) two USP students get the opportunity to travel to Germany and be part of an exchange programme within the framework of the revolBRAS project. The student from USP-Ribeirao Preto supports the working group on business model development. The student from USP-Sao Carlos is working on modelling as part of the life cycle assessment (LCA study) at Fraunhofer ICT.
In cooperation with the Brazilian consultancy Cirrugalem , the revolBRAs project partners Source One GmbH and RITTEC organised an extension of the field study, which has already been reported on the CLIENT II website. The field study was completed in May 2023. The aim of the study was to identify the amount of waste containing PET in waste collection cooperatives. After three months of hand sorting, approximately 18,137 kg of PET-containing waste was sorted from selective collection, for which the revolPET® technology opens up a new recycling route.
The main results of the extension of the gravimetric study with five waste collectors' cooperatives in Sao Paulo city are as follows:
- Total selectively collected amount of all waste types: 855,547 kg.
- Percentage of landfilled waste from selective collection: 26.56%.
- Total amount of sorted PET-containing waste (excluding PET bottles) in the gravimetric study: 18,137 kg
Note: Selective collection in Brazil corresponds to all dried waste fractions (e.g. glass, paper, cardboard, plastics, TetraPack, etc...).
You can find more information about the project on the project page.