Spain’s plastics technology centre Aimplas (Valencia; www.aimplas.net) is collaborating with Spanish varnishes and resins company Barpimo (La Rioja; www.barpimo.com) to develop alkyd and polyester resins from multi-layer PET packaging waste. The aim is to transform these waste products, which generally end up in landfill sites because of their expensive treatment costs, into new products such as enamels, resins and materials for the building sector, says Aimplas.

Two types of product are being developed: alkyd resins for the manufacture of enamels and coatings for materials such as metal and wood; as well as polyester resins that can be used in sectors such as building and transport as pipes or glass fibre-reinforced composites.

The project, known as Resipet, is co-funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).