Kingspan to recycle PET bottles into polyols

The achievement is part of a collaborative effort with (Synthesia), the subsidiary of Kingspan Group which specialises in chemical products, polyester polyols and polyurethane systems for thermal and acoustic insulation.

At its sites in Barcelona, Spain, Synthesia uses post-consumer waste PET as a raw material to create polyester polyols that are used in the manufacture of a variety of thermal insulation and insulated panel products, largely across the Kingspan Group. This recycling process not only helps to reduce the volume of waste PET that ends up in landfill or oceans, but also lowers dependence on virgin raw materials. With buildings and infrastructure accounting for 38.8 billion tonnes of global raw material consumption annually [3], such technologies will play a critical role in transforming how resources are used and managed within the construction sector.

Increasing its use of recycled, bio-based and renewable input materials is an important facet of Kingspan’s circularity strategy. The recycling of one billion PET bottles [1] by 2025 was a key element of this strategy and is fundamental to Kingspan’s ambition to help accelerate the transition to a circular economy, part of its wider Planet Passionate environmental sustainability programme which was launched in 2019.

“Achieving our target to recycle 1 billion PET bottles [1] into our manufacturing processes is a critical milestone in our Planet Passionate programme, and we are immensely proud to have hit our goal one year ahead of schedule. This is testament to the dedication of teams around our organisation and the development of innovative recycling technologies by our Synthesia Technology business,” said Holly Loughman, Head of Sustainability at Kingspan Group.

Vittorio Bonapersona, Corporate R&D Manager at Synthesia Technology, added: “The demand for solutions that help tackle plastic pollution will only increase, and we are delighted to offer technology that contributes to this global effort while also supporting the construction industry’s transition to a circular economy. This milestone is an excellent indicator of what is possible when we commit to transforming how the world’s finite resources are used. For us at Synthesia and across the Kingspan Group, this is just the beginning; we are also leveraging our advanced technologies to recycle insulation waste, which will help us make further important headway as an organisation towards our circularity ambitions.”

www.kingspangroup.com
www.synthesia.com

[1] Equivalent number of PET bottles by weight.

[2] The average distance from Earth to the Moon is approximately 384,400 kilometres, or 384,400,000 metres. The height of one billion plastic bottles stacked is 200,000 kilometres, or 200,000,000 metres. Final Result: One billion plastic bottles stacked on top of one another would reach about 52% of the way to the Moon.

[3] World Green Building Council, Annual Report 2020.