A firm in Scotland says it has developed a radical new catalyst technology that can clean emissions from the plastics feedstock recycling process.

Greenward Environmental Technology, which is based in Dundee, has formulated a system that overcomes some of the difficulties normally found in recycling plastics.

Typically the mixture of polymers in plastics has made recycling problematic but the new catalyst formula - using an alloy of palladium and zinc - has negotiated this.

David Hutson of Greenward told letsrecycle.com that the new feedstock recycling technology could process all types of mixed plastics, whether from electronic, automotive, construction, municipal or agricultural sources.

When the waste is converted into oil and wax it can then be used by a number of markets.

"It can go back into the petrochemical industry as a feedstock or as a fuel for diesel engines and it could be used as a domestic heating fuel. But there would need to be further refining of the product for domestic or diesel use," he explained.

The formula has now been patented by the University of Dundee, which first invented the catalyst formula.

One Welsh firm - Metal Reduction Processors - has already expressed an interest in the technology and is seeking to establish a pilot plant to process around 100kg of scrap plastic an hour.