Pyrowave
Pyrowave is a Canadian company established in 2014 specialised in the electrification of chemical processes based on low carbon footprint microwaves.
ID: 817627344843-86
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with César Luena (Member of the European Parliament)
21 Apr 2023 · Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation
Response to Review of the Construction Products Regulation
12 Jul 2022
Please find Pyrowave's comments in the attached document.
Read full responseResponse to Sustainable Products Initiative
21 Jun 2022
Pyrowave is a pioneer in the electrification of chemical processes based on low carbon footprint microwaves. Pyrowave is also a Canadian leader in the plastics circular economy and chemical recycling to regenerate post-consumer and post-industrial plastics into new plastics, reclaiming these resources’ full value. Its patented high-powered microwave catalytic depolymerization technology platform is the most advanced in the world and is now at the forefront of the next generation of plastics. By restoring plastics to their molecular state (plastic to monomer) identical to virgin materials, Pyrowave technology enables infinite recycling of plastics and provides a circular economy solution to meet the global plastics recycling challenge. Our high-value monomer can be used for new packaging but also synthetic rubber and other activity sectors, such as electronics, automotive and construction.
As an equipment manufacturer, we have a demonstration plant and an R&D center in Canada and we partnered with the Michelin Group in 2020 to deploy our technology in Europe by 2023. We are also developing in the Asian market. This goes to show that our technology is commercially ready and operational. The accelerated growth Pyrowave has seen in the last few years is partly due to the evolution of a favorable regulatory framework in Europe aiming at incentivising the circular economy and innovation to achieve ambitious sustainability goals. We believe that the best application of our technology to serve the circular economy is through the integration of low-carbon recycled content in everyday products. This is why we salute the intention of the ESPR to increase product sustainability on the EU common market through recycling technologies.
Please find our specific recommendations in the attached file:
Read full response18 Jan 2022
Pyrowave is a pioneer in the electrification of chemical processes based on low-carbon footprint microwaves. Pyrowave has been a leader in the plastics circular economy and chemical recycling for the last decade. Its unique, patented technology regenerates post-consumer and post-industrial plastics into new plastics, reclaiming the resources’ full value.
As a Canadian clean technology curently being commercialized in Europe and in Asia, Pyrowave wishes to take part in this consultation process for two main reasons. First, the very nature of its unique and patented microwave-based technology brings specific attributes to the recycling process and virgin-like output, which we hope can be considered under the future European Union regulation in order to accelerate the shift to the circular economy of plastics, a shift that includes chemical recycling as part of the portfolio of plastic recycling solutions. As an example, the Pyrowave technology platform uses microwaves that heats polystyrene (plastic #6) at approximately a thousand degrees. This intense heat destroys all organic and inorganic contaminants in the process, producing a styrene monomer that is 99.8% pure, identical to the virgin styrene used for virgin applications, including polystyrene food packaging.
Second, Pyrowave has partnered with Michelin to deploy its first commercial plant in Europe and has therefore a concrete project with a 2023 horizon that will be set to comply with the European Commission regulatory framework.
Pyrowave welcomes the Commission’s intention to simplify and streamline the certification process for the use of recycled plastic food contact materials (FCMs). To ensure the draft regulation can achieve its objectives while enabling the establishment of a mature market for recycled plastic for food contact packaging, Pyrowave would like to share a series of principles which can be better reflected in the final version of the regulation:
•Output quality: to maximise the uptake of recycled plastics while safeguarding the highest level of safety, it will be important to put more attention, in the case of chemical recycling specifically, to the quality of the output, which in Pyrowave’s case, is identical to the virgin product. Accordingly, we should not differentiate the food-contact and non food-contact origin of the feedstock (including its the material type) as decontamination occures during the process offered by Pyrowave’s microwaves technology. Such an approach would unecessarily limit the feedstock to be used, risking to undermine the full potential of Pyrowave’s robust recycling process. Specifically, it should be specified that recycling technologies aren’t bound to food-contact origin materials (article 6) if they can meet or exceed the specifications of virgin product. We believe that focussing on the quality of the output is the most important and safest criteria for food-contact applications.
•Clear and efficient certification processes: they should not be too complex in order to avoid putting excessive administrative burden on the actors involved in the plastics recycling supply chain. This should be considered especially in the case of novel technologies. The latter, thanks to the exceptional level of innovation in the area of plastics’ recycling solutions, are playing an increasingly crucial role in creating a functioning circular economy for plastics. In addition, chemical recycling technologies shouldn’t have the requirement of a decontamination step as their recycling technology already acts as a decontaminant.
•Traceability : Pyrowave supports the need to track the origin of recycled plastics in any application, including food contact, in order to ensure a high degree of transparency and trust among consumers and throughout the value chain. However, this excludes the need to differentiate the feedstock of food-grade and non-food-grade origin.
We are offering the European Commission our full support and collaboration.
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