Akrylon®

Recycled content

The current production of our AKRYLON® acrylic sheets already contains a proportion of recycled PMMA material. The majority of this material is waste from the manufacturing process which, after being sorted into individual types, can be fed back into the production process as regrind to produce new AKRYLON® sheets. We aim to continue increasing the proportion of recycled regrind in the product in the future. The recent introduction of AKRYLON®re means we are now able to offer a product comprising at least 95 % recycled material from PMMA sheet waste.

All raw materials used in our AKRYLON® sheets comply with the requirements in the current version of the European Union's Chemicals Regulation (REACH). In particular, AKRYLON® sheets are free of any of the substances listed in the current version of the ECHA Candidate List of Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC). PMMA does not contain any toxic substances or heavy metals which may cause environmental damage or pose risks to health.

Fossil CO₂ bound in the material

Owing to the MMA used as a raw material in the manufacturing process, AKRYLON® contains fossil carbon. However, thanks to its lower density, AKRYLON® contains less fossil carbon per m² than other transparent plastics. As well as the lower density, another factor to note is that, compared with other plastics, the polymer molecule contains a lower percentage of carbon atoms. By using recycled PMMA in the production of AKRYLON®re, the amount of new materials required can be significantly reduced. This makes a valuable contribution to lowering CO₂ emissions and avoiding waste.

Product life cycle

Our AKRYLON® acrylic glass sheets are made of extruded PMMA, a very robust, highly transparent and extremely durable material featuring excellent UV stability and resistance to weathering and ageing. We guarantee a service life of ten years for the AKRYLON® product family. The sheets are protected against the harmful effects of ultra violet rays and there are no significant changes with regard to optical or mechanical properties. When processed, used, and cared for in an appropriate manner, the life cycle of our sheets can be considerably longer than ten years. An extended service life also leads to saving resources as fewer replacements are required. Our AKRYLON® sheets are used in a wide variety of interior and exterior applications where priorities include durability, UV stability and, above all, transparency (92 % light transparency for colourless sheets). AKRYLON® is a product offering sustainable, long-term use and excellent product performance.

Recyclability

AKRYLON® sheets can be converted back into their original raw material, methyl methacrylate (MMA), using various recycling processes. Most modern recycling processes for extruded acrylic glass sheets use mechanical processes which, after sorting the material by type and grinding the PMMA sheets or waste material, feed the regrind back into manufacturing processes to produce new sheets. This is already being implemented in the production of our AKRYLON®re sheets. In addition to mechanical recycling, the PMMA waste material can also be converted into an MMA liquid monomer using chemical recycling (through depolymerisation). The MMA recovered can then be reused to create, among other things, new PMMA sheets which comply with the highest quality standards. Renowned chemical companies are currently undertaking intensive research into improved depolymerisation technologies to achieve a more efficient and sustainable means of recovering the precious raw material MMA.