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BASF announces their reciChain™ program to tackle the challenges of plastic waste

CALGARY — A recent report highlighted that Canada disposed of nearly 4.7 million tonnes of plastic waste. Nine per cent was recycled, with the other 91 per cent of plastic ending up in landfills or lost in the environment. A project spearheaded by BASF called reciChain program (reciChain) is coming to Alberta to tackle the challenges of plastic waste, with support from Alberta Innovates.

reciChain is a technology-enabled ecosystem that brings together all the plastic value chain players to enable the circularity, tracking, and sorting of recycled plastic. The program aims to incentivize the reuse of plastics by producers while supporting Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs; increasing supply chain efficiencies, and consumer brand loyalty.

BASF, and a number of partners, including Cascades, Layfield, London Drugs, NOVA Chemicals, Orion Plastics, [Re]Waste] and Waste & Recycling Services from the cities of Calgary and Edmonton will receive $2 million from the Bioenergy – Circular Economy program, through Alberta Innovates’ Clean Resources division. The total budget for the reciChain program in Alberta, including investment from all the participants, is estimated at$10 million. The project is intended to develop a functional platform and reach a semi-commercial phase by January 2024.

The intent of the reciChain program will support Alberta in achieving impacts such as:

• Incentivizing the use of recycled materials and designing for recyclability,
• Improving the identification and tracking of plastic types for auditability,
• Improving the sorting of plastics by material type,
• Building circularity to involve the entire value chain.

“Eliminating unnecessary plastic waste and building a plastic circular economy are key goals for our government, and projects like this one will help get us there. Bringing together partners across a number of industries and equipping them with cutting-edge technology will help drive much-needed solutions to global plastic waste issues, and we’re excited to see BASF spearheading this project here in Alberta.” said Dale Nally, Associate Minister of Natural Gas and Electricity.

“Creating a cleaner world starts at the local level, in communities all around the country and right here in Alberta. Innovative programs like reciChain are creating meaningful changes in plastic recycling. Alberta Innovates is pleased to support this partnership and looks forward to the results that flow from this program.” said Laura Kilcrease, CEO, Alberta Innovates.