Ecobelt

Challenge 

Conveyor belts are an integral part of modern society, facilitating the efficient transport of industrial goods, foodstuffs, and parcels. Unfortunately, owing to wear during operation, belts have a finite lifespan, ranging from just a few weeks to as much as 10 years. The belts typically fail at splicing point, the site where conveyor belts are joined together, with approximately 94% of failures occurring here.  

Conventional conveyor belts are typically made from a multi-material, consisting of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyurethane (PU), which complicates the end-of-life of the belt due to difficulty in separation, meaning most belts, between 2,500 and 4,000 tonnes annually, are disposed of via landfill or incineration after their useful life. 

Solution 

Ecobelt is addresing conveyor belt waste through their innovative AnnStuMax joint technology which, by reinforcing the splicing point, makes it possible to repair damaged belts in-situ, extending the lifespan dramatically and decreasing the amount of multi-material waste that goes to landfill or incineration.  

With its expertise in life-cycle assessment (LCA), the SMI Hub supported Ecobelt by producing a comparative assessment of the environmental impacts over the whole lifecycle of belts with AnnStuMax technology vs belts with conventional splice. 

Impact 

This work has led to longer term collaboration between Ecobelt and the University of Manchester through a UKRI Impact Acceleration Account Award, which is establishing a roadmap for repurposing and recycling belts at the end of their product lifecycle into new products. 

The project will assess the readiness of this approach using existing industrial technology in order to facilitate industrial adoption of Ecobelt’s sustainable solutions, with the ultimate goal of reducing the environmental impacts associated with conveyor belt production, and disposal. The outcomes will be analysed via LCA to determine the environmental impacts of recycling belts, compared to conventional disposal methods. 

Ecobelt has since been nominated for several sustainability awards, using the data provided by the SMI Hub to authentically articulate the importance of their innovation and motivate investment.