DEMETO welcomes Kolon and Remondis to its Industrial Advisory Board

DEMETO (Modular, scalable and high-performance DE-polymerization by MicrowavE TechnolOgy) is a European Project financed by the European Community into the framework of the Horizon 2020. The partners of the consortium are working to bring to reality a revolutionary new way to chemically recycle PET, invented by gr3n, which is both sustainable and profitable. 

The Industrial Advisory Board (IAB) of DEMETO is a committee of stakeholders external to the project that will interact with the partners of the Consortium to follow its public developments and, most of all, provide feedback and comments to steer the direction of its business development activities. The IAB consists of companies involved in the complete PET/polyester value chain at different level, including: top brands of home textile, sportswear textile, fashion textile, home and personal care and drinks, as well as plastic converters, waste collectors and recyclers.

"We are glad to welcome another two relevant companies to the DEMETO Industrial Advisory Board, which already includes several major players in the PET and polyester value chain. With its in-depth experience in the recycling sector, Remondis is a great addition in relation to the input side of DEMETO's value proposition, adding to experiences of SUEZ and A2A. The invaluable experience in the polyester textile and film production of Kolon will help us to validate the usage of the monomers obtained from our process in these applications. We look forward to add another brick in the wall of circular economy for PET and polyester", explains Matteo Bertele from gr3n.

The Kolon Industries, Inc. (Kolon) supplies PET based fibers, fabrics and films for various applications.  As the need for a sustainable polymer supply from the environmental friendliness stand-point becomes greater due to climate change, Kolon’s key strategy is to enable a Sustainable Polymer Economy (SPE) to satisfy the need. ​ SPE is a concept with which no polymer enters the landfill, ultimately, with the initial polymer target being polyesters, to minimize environmental impact. One of the key aspects of this concept is chemical regeneration and recycling of polymers.

DEMETO enables various companies in the polyester supply chain to collaborate to find a best sustainable solution to a global polyester waste problem. In this regard, Kolon is happy to support the DEMETO project with the aim of eliminating polyester waste and to support the enablement of sustainable polyester economy.

” We at Kolon are honored to be asked to participate in the DEMETO project as a board member of the IAB. ​ We believe the objectives of the project align very well with Kolon’s objective of enabling SPE, especially in a key area of polyester depolymerization. Furthermore, the success of DEMTO project would ensure that our planet would be a safer and healthier place”, explains Sung Han, Executive Vice President and CTO of Kolon.

REMONDIS is well known for its innovative recycling operations, driven by its mission to promote sustainable development. Both the company's slogan "REMONDIS – working for the future” and the wide range of business activities reflect the determination to assume responsibility and develop innovative recycling technologies that can supply recycled resources to primary industries. All of REMONDIS investments contribute towards creating a truly circular economy.

"To be able to pursue this goal, we have also integrated the chemical recycling of plastics into our recycling portfolio. We are constantly looking for innovations that not only use groundbreaking technology but that are also both environmentally sound and economically viable – such as the DEMETO technology. We are excited to have joined the industrial advisory board and to observe the development of a cutting-edge recycling technology," says Pailak Mzikian from REMONDIS.

Unlike mechanical recycling, DEMETO’s technology allows a complete recovery of PET without any degradation of the material. ​ Thanks to its innovative technology, DEMETO will be able to return post-consumer PET into its basic components, Ethylene Glycol (EG) and Terephthalic Acid (PTA). The process is enhanced by microwave radiation to speed up the reaction time and to make it suitable for industrial application. Since the resulting PET is designed to be competitive to virgin PET in both quality and costs, DEMETO offers a serious alternative source of raw materials to the plastics industry, and aims to enable up to 100% recycled content in packaging at parity cost to virgin resin.

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About KOLON Industries, Inc.

The KOLON Industries, Inc. is the first company to produce Nylon in Korea in 1957 and has made a significant contribution to national economic growth. KOLON Industries, Inc. focuses on four business divisions; Industrial materials where company produces automotive and advanced materials like tire cords, airbags, aramids; Chemicals, which are made for industrial and residential purposes, hydrocarbon resin, Phenolic resins and Epoxy resin; Films/Electronic materials, which are used in industrial, displays and food packaging; and Fashion which encompasses a total fashion business as a leading company in Korea. Learn more at www.kolonindustries.com.

About Remondis

REMONDIS is one of the world's largest privately owned recycling, service and water companies and provides services to around 30 million people. Via its branches and associated companies, REMONDIS operates across four continents in over 30 countries. Founded in 1934, this family-run business has a workforce of more than 34,000 employees and an annual turnover of 7 billion euros (2017). REMONDIS focuses on developing partnerships to implement novel and forward-looking concepts and ideas to help conserve our raw material and water supplies for future generations.

About Demeto

The value chain of PET is quite complex. It consists of several steps that are linked in cross-sectorial interactions involving multiple companies across the European and worldwide market. It is at the end of that life cycle that DEMETO proposes its innovative technology: the first feasible and sustainable (economically, environmentally and socially) industrial application of chemical treatment for reuse of PET/Polyester waste streams. Thanks to a process intensifying approach based on innovative usage of microwave radiations developed by gr3n, DEMETO’s recycling technology will provide an indefinite life to PET, allowing to come back to its composing elements (Ethylene Glycol, EG, and Terephtalic Acid, PTA) without degrading the materials and, consequently, paving the way for a disruptive, large-scale circular economy for plastic products.

DEMETO is a European Project and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The 13 partners that form the DEMETO consortium are from all over Europe and share the common vision that DEMETO will help to create a more sustainable world. www.demeto.eu

The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no 768573.