PNRI Director Dr. Carlo Arcilla (4th from left), ITDI Director Dr. Anabelle Briones (middle) and Envirotech President Engr. Winchester Lemen (4th from right) with the respective agency and company officials and PREx project staff during the signing of the MOA for the Post-radiation Reactive Extrusion (PREx) initiative at the PNRI compound in Quezon City
PNRI partners with ITDI and Envirotech to recycle plastic waste using radiation technology
To help address the worsening plastic pollution problem in the country while also maximizing the use of reprocessed materials for industries, the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Nuclear Research Institute partners with the DOST-Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI) and Envirotech Waste Recycling, Inc., to harness radiation in recycling plastic wastes.
PNRI Director Dr. Carlo Arcilla, ITDI Director Dr. Anabelle Briones and Envirotech President Engr. Winchester Lemen signed a Memorandum of Agreement for Post-radiation Reactive Extrusion (PREx), a research initiative by PNRI with funding from the DOST Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).
Apart from reprocessing plastics, radiation processing technology can complement existing recycling efforts in support of the nation’s green initiative, while also allowing researchers to modify and transform plastic waste into new products that can be used for other industries such as in construction and manufacturing.
The initiative is also in line with the Philippines’ participation in the NUTEC Plastics Project of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which supports the use of nuclear and radiation technologies for environmental and industrial development.
Dr. Jordan Madrid, who heads the PREx initiative at PNRI, explains the details of using radiation processing to reprocess and recycle plastic wastes
PNRI and ITDI officials on a tour of the Electron Beam Irradiation Facility and the PNRI Radiation Processing Laboratory
