Schneider Electric and GR3N Partner to Scale Advanced Plastic Recycling with Innovative Automation

(IN BRIEF) Schneider Electric has partnered with GR3N to develop advanced plastic recycling technology using GR3N’s innovative MADE process, which breaks down hard-to-recycle PET into reusable materials with virgin-like quality. Schneider’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert platform enables modular, scalable, and efficient automation to help GR3N scale its recycling operations to industrial levels. The collaboration aims to address global plastic waste challenges while improving operational efficiency and sustainability in the chemical sector.

(PRESS RELEASE) RUEIL-MALMAISON, 9-Sep-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy management and automation, has partnered with GR3N, an innovative polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycler, to address the challenges of plastic waste through advanced recycling technologies. Together, they are driving circularity in the chemical sector by introducing the first open automation system for the plastic recycling industry.

GR3N’s breakthrough technology, MADE (Microwave Assisted DEpolymerization), effectively breaks down hard-to-recycle PET into its chemical building blocks, enabling the creation of new PET with virgin-like quality. The process, demonstrated in Italy earlier this year, will be scaled to industrial levels, with a planned plant in Spain capable of treating over 40,000 tons of PET waste annually by 2027.

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure Automation Expert platform plays a key role in this innovation. Its software-defined automation system allows GR3N to seamlessly integrate modular hardware-agnostic solutions, enabling operational agility, improved scalability, and significant reductions in engineering costs.

The collaboration aligns with Schneider Electric’s commitment to sustainable practices and global decarbonization, showcasing how advanced automation can transform industries while addressing pressing environmental concerns such as plastic pollution.

Expected to reach full industrial scale by 2027, this partnership aims to revolutionize plastic recycling, offering a flexible, scalable, and cost-efficient solution to combat global plastic waste.

About GR3N:

GR3N developed an innovative process, based on the application of microwave technology to alkaline hydrolysis, which provides an economically viable approach to the recycling of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), allowing the industrial implementation.

The GR3N process is economically sustainable and industrially viable as it breaks down any type of PET and polyester plastic into its two core components (TPA and MEG monomers), which can then be re-assembled to obtain virgin-like plastics allowing endless recycling loops. This new process has the potential to change how PET is recycled worldwide, with huge benefits both for the recycling industry and for the entire polyester value chain. The company’s goal is to become the world-leading supplier of recycled PET and polyester, addressing the global need for virgin plastics and triggering a truly circular approach to plastic recycling. GR3N is part of PETCORE Europe, Chemical Recycling Europe, and Accelerating Circularity.

About Schneider Electric
Schneider’s purpose is to create Impact by empowering all to make the most of our energy and resources, bridging progress and sustainability. At Schneider, we call this Life Is On.

Our mission is to be the trusted partner in Sustainability and Efficiency.

We are a global industrial technology leader bringing world-leading expertise in electrification, automation and digitization to smart industries, resilient infrastructure, future-proof data centers, intelligent buildings, and intuitive homes. Anchored by our deep domain expertise, we provide integrated end-to-end lifecycle AI enabled Industrial IoT solutions with connected products, automation, software and services, delivering digital twins to enable profitable growth for our customers.

We are a people company with an ecosystem of 150,000 colleagues and more than a million partners operating in over 100 countries to ensure proximity to our customers and stakeholders. We embrace diversity and inclusion in everything we do, guided by our meaningful purpose of a sustainable future for all.

www.se.com

Related resources:
• Interview video from the Globuc Go Circular event, April 2024: How microwave-assisted PET
recycling – interview with Delphine Largeteau, SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC (youtube.com)
• A Circular Economy for Plastics and Polymers | Schneider Electric (se.com)

Media Contact:

Global PR Central Team
global.pr@se.com

SOURCE: Schneider Electric