MAKING PLASTIC FROM GARBAGE

UBQ Materials, an Israeli start-up, is claiming a revolutionary process that turns household garbage – rotting fruit, cereal boxes, plastics, old bones – into new plastic ready for manufacturers to use.

The proprietary process heats the waste to about 750°F and breaks down organic materials. Fibers in the organics blend with the plastic to strengthen the result, which emerges as long strands that can be pelletized and then colored to customers’ orders. 

The company claims that its process, developed over ten years, produces less carbon that making virgin plastic.

UBQ’s plant is able to turn out about 7,000 tons of the reprocessed material a year. A new plant, able to yield 100,00 tons, is being planned.

So far, UBQ’s only customer is Plasgad, an Israel firm that recently delivered 2,000 recycling bins made from UBQ’s plastic to the Central Virginia Waste Management Authority.

TRENDPOST: The new industry growing up around post-petroleum plastics – both in manufacturing and reprocessing – will win manufacturers responding to consumers’ increasing insistence on recyclable and biodegradable alternatives. This new industry has the power to remake the plastics business over the next two decades.