Oral Çimsöken

Oral Çimsöken has started his professional career in the waste to energy and metal recovery industry in 2009. He graduated from Kocaeli University with a degree in Industrial Engineering after graduated from Kocaeli University he completed Engineering and Technology Management program in Uludag University. Oral has been working at TOMRA Recycling Sorting since 2021 as the Area Sales Manager responsible for Türkiye, the Middle East and Western Asia regions.

Responsible for the planning and executing of sales activities in regions mentioned and the managing of the marketing activities in Türkiye, Oral Çimsöken is an expert in recycling of plastics and metals, municipal solid waste sorting, and waste to energy. He speaks and writes about waste to energy, increasing secondary aluminum content in aluminum products and plastic recyling. Oral carries out successful projects within TOMRA, to prepare specially designed concepts for virgin-like recycled plastic pellets from source separated waste streams (achieving closed-loop recycling for PET & LDPE), and mixed waste resource streams.

Summary

Presentation Title: Advanced Mechanical Recycling Technologies for Plastics

Creating a closed loop recycling system for plastics using Advanced Recycling Technologies

The continued production of virgin fossil-based plastics has a significant impact on the environment. This is due to the depletion of fossil fuels during the extraction of the material, emissions associated with production through energy use, transport of the materials and, where appropriate, incineration at the end of their useful life. In addition, the improper disposal of plastic negatively affects ecosystems in its own right, especially marine life when plastics find their way in the oceans. Plastic recycling occurs mainly through mechanical recycling from mixed waste streams and is classified as down-cycling (also known as "open loop"). In an open-loop system, plastic is recycled but cannot be used for the same purpose due to its lower quality. To create high quality materials that can be used for higher quality applications, advanced mechanical recycling is required. For the ultimate utilization of the plastics, these solutions can successfully master the challenge of removing unwanted materials such as metals, cardboard, rubber and many other elements from non- homogeneous waste stream. Plastic products consist of a mixture of materials and polymers, including multilayer material, copolymers, adhesives, fillers and additives, that can turn the recycling process into a problem that is not easy to take. Although these conditions vary greatly depending on the application and type of plastic, in summary, it can be said that recycling is currently carried out for a limited selection of the total plastic types available, and waste generated. While rPET for instance is widely available in high qualities, rPP is mainly available in lower qualities only. However, there are innovative recycling technologies that could solve some of the problems related to the recovery of plastic from different streams, such as purifying the most contaminated post-consumer plastic waste to reinsert sufficient material into the market. Combined with products that are designed to be easily recycled, larger quantities could be transformed into secondary raw materials of high enough qualities. After collection, sorting comes into play, and takes on a fundamental role in terms of quantities and qualities. The classification of plastics is an essential step in the various waste management techniques. Through automated sorting technologies, it is possible to process large volumes, which helps recyclers to achieve their individual processing targets. Especially when the streams are densely mixed, these sorting innovations show their strength by identifying far more object characteristics and thus obtaining higher purity or throughput rates.