Your Next Scented Candle Could Be Made Of Recycled Plastic

By Ariel Grossman, NoCamels October 24, 2022 4 minutes

Clariter chemically upcycles plastic waste that cannot be recycled conventionally and turns it into products that are used in many different industries. Courtesy

Patented process breathes new life into waste destined for landfill

Discarded plastic is being turned into scented candles, ink, paint, and more than 1,000 other household products, thanks to an Israeli-founded startup.

Conventional methods can only recycle plastic waste a handful of times, and the vast majority – over 90 per cent of the 400 million tonnes produced every year – ends up as landfill, or is incinerated.

But Clariter, co-founded by Israeli-born Ran Sharon, uses a unique, patented method of chemical recycling. It breaks plastics down to its base chemicals to produce oils, waxes, and solvents that are used to make everyday household products.

Mixed plastic waste that is chemically upcycled to make new products. Courtesy

“Clariter does what nobody else does – turns plastic into new products for the industry,” says Adi Sela Yemini, Sustainability & Business Development Manager at Clariter’s office in Kfar Saba, central Israel. “The plastic that nobody wants, that’s sent to landfills, or worse, reaches the environment and oceans, is what we like the most.”

Most other companies that chemically recycle plastic turn it into energy, fuel, or other types of plastic. Clariter turns it into higher value ingredients for candles, coatings, paints, inks, greases, polishes, and a wide array of other household products.

Clariter has spent over a decade improving its high-quality products. Courtesy

“We take plastic and transform it into new green sustainable petrochemical products, that are normally produced by crude oil, addressing two huge problems at once: the plastic waste epidemic and the dependency on crude oil,” Sela Yemini tells NoCamels.

Crude oil is used to make petroleum, which is essential in products like soap, detergents, plastics, and even in textile production.

Clariter transforms plastic waste in three steps. First, it uses high temperatures to break down plastics to liquid hydrocarbons, the chemical compounds found in crude oil.

Then it removes impurities from the liquidized raw materials. They include sulfur, chlorine, nitrogen, and any other additives used to give plastic its durable and flexible properties.

High temperatures melt plastics down to liquid hydrocarbons. Courtesy

And finally, the raw materials are distilled and separated to produce high-quality solvents, oils, and waxes.

There are thousands of different types of plastic. Clariter says it is able to process 60 to 70 per cent of them, including some which are too rigid to be melted down by conventional means.

Part of the reason over 90 per cent of all plastic is sent to landfills or is incinerated is that recycling centers simply can’t handle the volumes and different types of plastic. Plastic need to carefully separated by type, by color, and rigidity.

Clariter refines the hydrocarbons by removing impurities and additives. Courtesy

“If plastics of different colors are mechanically recycled together, even if they are of the same type, you’re left with a grey-black material with limited demand,” says Sela Yemini. “Therefore, separation into colors for mechanical recyclers is important.”

Mechanical recycling is also dependent on crude oil prices. If prices are low, it’s cheaper to create new plastics than it is to recycle, so waste plastic ends up as landfill.

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Clariter is capable of chemically recycling 60 to 70 per cent of all plastics without needing to sort them by type, color or rigidity. Courtesy

“It has its disadvantages. It takes time to separate, and it costs a lot of money. And after repeated recycling, the plastic loses its integrity and durability. So you can’t really recycle the same plastic more than four or five times,” says Sela Yemini.

There are, however, plastics that Clariter cannot use in its upcycling technology: PET (polyethylene terephthalate), which is used for soda and water bottles, and is one of the most widely recycled plastics; PVC (polyvinyl chloride), which is mostly used for pipes, wires and cables; and PA (polyamide), which is commonly used in textiles like clothing and carpets.

That’s why Clariter sees itself as complementary to traditional mechanical recycling, and not as a competitor to it.

Clariter collects its plastic from different waste streams, such as municipal, industrial, and construction waste. The majority of these mixed waste types have a “negative value” – a producer needs to pay to get rid of them and send them to landfills.

Every location has a different strategy, because every country deals with waste differently.

Before the plastic waste arrives at Clariter, it is shredded, washed and dried. “The plastic that suits us floats in water, and the plastic that doesn’t, sinks – like the PET and PA,” says Sela Yemini.

A flowchart illustrating the chemical recycling process. Courtesy

The entire process has a high yield of 85 per cent.

“We are currently doing research and development to find out how to upcycle the waste into products as well.”

Since its inception in 2003, Clariter has mostly been researching and developing its chemical upcycling process.

In 2018, it started operating an industrial demo plant in South Africa, and plans to build commercial plants in Israel, Poland, and in the Netherlands.