Sorting and recycling of end-of-life plastic products

Abstract

The disclosure relates to the field of sustainability, in particular to the field of end-of-life plastics sorting and recycling. The disclosure relates to methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer elements for sorting plastic waste streams including plastic toys, plastic shoe part(s) and / or plastic furniture part(s) in a data driven manner via a decentral network. The disclosure further relates to methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer elements for producing plastic toys, plastic shoe part(s) and / or plastic furniture part(s) using recycled material in a data driven manner via a decentral network.

Description

[0001] 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0002] 1

[0003] SORTING AND RECYCLING OF END-OF-LIFE PLASTIC PRODUCTS

[0004] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0005] The invention relates to the field of sustainability, in particular to the field of end-of-life plastics sorting and recycling. The invention relates to methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer elements for sorting plastic waste streams including plastic toys, plastic shoe part(s) and / or plastic furniture part(s) in a data driven manner via a decentral network. The invention further relates to methods, systems, apparatuses, and computer elements for producing plastic toys, plastic shoe part(s) and / or plastic furniture part(s) using recycled material in a data driven manner via a decentral network.

[0006] TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

[0007] Recycling of end-of-life, e.g. waste, plastic products, such as plastic toys, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, is challenging owing to the complexity of sorting the diverse set of plastic waste streams containing such waste plastic products. Recycling of such plastic products require separation and sorting of the plastic waste stream due to the big variety of polymer types, grades, blends and / or additives. Therefore, sorting is a major issue for recycling of such plastic products. In addition, the refeed of such plastic products into plastic product production chains is difficult, since it must be ensured that plastic products, such as plastic toys, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, produced from recycled plastic waste adhere to a variety of regulations to ensure safety of such plastic products containing recycled material. Plastic toy producers, shoe producers and / or furniture producers are hence hampered to recycle and refeed plastic products into their production process to improve the sustainability of produced plastic products and hence also the sustainable impact on plastic product production and use.

[0008] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] In an aspect disclosed is a method for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein the one or more waste article(s) are selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the method comprising the steps of:

[0010] • detecting at least one identifier element per waste article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the waste article;

[0011] • providing the decentral identifier associated with the one or more waste article(s) and providing based on the decentral identifier material composition data and / or article history data, wherein the material composition data and / or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network;

[0012] • generating fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) by assigning the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data and / or article history data to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0013] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0014] 2 plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to polymer type(s), range(s) for polymer quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the waste article, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the waste article or any combinations thereof;

[0015] • providing the generated fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

[0016] In another aspect disclosed is an apparatus for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein the one or more waste article(s) are selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the apparatus comprising:

[0017] • an identifier reader configured to detect at least one identifier element per waste article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the waste article;

[0018] • a decentral network communication interface configured to provide the decentral identifier associated with the one or more waste article(s) and providing based on the decentral identifier material composition data and / or article history data, wherein the material composition data and / or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network;

[0019] • a control signal generator configured to generate fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) by assigning the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data and / or article history data to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to polymer type(s), range(s) for polymer quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the waste article, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the waste article or combinations thereof;

[0020] • a control interface configured to provide the generated fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

[0021] In yet another aspect disclosed is a sorting system sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein the one or more waste article(s) are selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the sorting system comprising:

[0022] • a decentral network interface including o an identifier reader configured to detect at least one identifier element per waste article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the waste article; and o a decentral network communication interface configured to provide the decentral identifier associated with the one or more waste article(s) and providing based on the decentral identifier 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0023] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0024] 3 material composition data and / or article history data, wherein the material composition data and / or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network;

[0025] • a fractioning unit configured to generate fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) by assigning the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data and / or article history data to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to polymer type(s), range(s) for polymer quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the waste article, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the waste article or combinations thereof

[0026] • a control signal provider configured to provide the generated fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

[0027] In yet another aspect disclosed is a method for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein the one or more waste article(s) are selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the method comprising the steps of:

[0028] • providing - based on one or more decentral identifier(s) associated with the one or more waste article(s) - material composition data and / or article history data, wherein the material composition data and / or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network;

[0029] • generating fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) by assigning the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data and / or article history data to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to polymer type(s), range(s) for polymer quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the waste article, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the waste article or combinations thereof;

[0030] • providing the generated fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

[0031] In yet another aspect disclosed is an apparatus for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein the one or more waste article(s) are selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the apparatus comprising:

[0032] • a decentral network communication interface configured to provide - based on one or more decentral identifier(s) associated with the one or more waste article(s) - material composition data and / or article history data, wherein the material composition data and / or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network; 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0033] 4

[0034] • a control signal generator configured to generate fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) by assigning the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data and / or article history data to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to polymer type(s), range(s) for polymer quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the waste article, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the waste article or combinations thereof;

[0035] • a control interface configured to provide the generated fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

[0036] In yet another aspect disclosed is a use of composition data and / or article history data for sorting a plastic waste stream including one or more waste article(s) selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s) into one or more plastic waste fraction(s) according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses or by the systems disclosed herein.

[0037] In yet another aspect disclosed is a decentral data providing network node or service configured to provide the composition data and / or the article history data for sorting a plastic waste stream including one or more waste article(s) selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s) into one or more waste fraction(s) according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses or systems disclosed herein.

[0038] In yet another aspect disclosed is a method for controlling recycling of sorted plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) include one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein at least one of the sorted waste fractions includes waste article(s) selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the method comprising the steps of:

[0039] • providing decentral identifier (s)associated with the one or more sorted plastic waste fraction(s), optionally wherein the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) are generated according to the methods disclosed herein, by the apparatuses disclosed herein or by the systems disclosed herein,

[0040] • providing by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network fraction data associated with the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) based on the decentral identifier, wherein the fraction data includes fraction composition data and / or fraction history data,

[0041] • providing target property data associated with at least one target property of a recycled material obtained from recycling at least one of the sorted plastic waste fractions,

[0042] • generating feed data for feeding the one or more sorted plastic waste fraction(s) to a recycling plant for recycling the waste article(s) contained in such sorted plastic waste fraction(s) based on the fraction data and the provided target composition data,

[0043] • providing the generated feed data for recycling of the waste article(s) contained in the sorted plastic waste fraction(s). 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0044] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0045] 5

[0046] In yet another aspect disclosed is an apparatus for controlling recycling of sorted plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) include one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein at least one of the sorted waste fractions includes waste article(s) selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the apparatus comprising:

[0047] • an identifier provider configured to provide decentral identifier(s) associated with the one or more sorted plastic waste fraction(s), optionally wherein the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) are generated according to the methods disclosed herein, by the apparatuses disclosed herein or by the systems disclosed herein,

[0048] • a decentral network communication interface configured to provide by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network fraction data associated with the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) based on the decentral identifier, wherein the fraction data includes fraction composition data and / or fraction history data,

[0049] • a data providing interface configured to provide target property data associated with at least one target property of a recycled material obtained from recycling at least one of the sorted plastic waste fractions,

[0050] • a feed data generator configured to generate feed data for feeding the one or more sorted plastic waste fraction(s) to a recycling plant for recycling the waste article(s) contained in such sorted plastic waste fraction(s) based on the fraction data and the provided target composition data,

[0051] • a data providing interface configured to provide the generated feed data for recycling of the waste article(s) contained in the sorted plastic waste fraction(s).

[0052] In yet another aspect disclosed is a use of fraction data and / or fraction history data for recycling sorted plastic waste fraction(s) including one or more waste article(s) selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s) according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses or by the systems disclosed herein.

[0053] In yet another aspect disclosed is a decentral data providing network node or service configured to provide the fraction data and / or the fraction history data for recycling sorted plastic waste fraction(s) including one or more waste article(s) selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s) according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses or systems disclosed herein.

[0054] In yet another aspect disclosed is a method for controlling a production of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, wherein the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof include plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), wherein the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof are produced from input material by a production and wherein at least a part of the input material includes recycled material, optionally wherein the recycled material is obtained by recycling plastic waste fractions sorted according to the methods disclosed herein or by the systems disclosed herein and / or optionally wherein 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0055] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0056] 6 the recycled material is obtained by recycling sorted plastic waste fraction(s) according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses disclosed herein, the method comprising the steps of:

[0057] • providing decentral identifier(s) associated with the input material,

[0058] • providing - based on the decentral identifier(s) - input material data associated with the input material from one or more network node(s) of a decentral network, wherein the input material data includes input material composition data and / or input material history data,

[0059] • providing target property data associated with target property Zies of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof,

[0060] • generating feed data for feeding the input material to the production for producing the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof based on the input material data and the provided target property data,

[0061] • providing the generated feed data for producing the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof by the production.

[0062] In yet another aspect disclosed is an apparatus for controlling a production of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, wherein the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof include plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), wherein the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof are produced from input material by a production and wherein at least a part of the input material includes recycled material, optionally wherein the recycled material is obtained by recycling plastic waste fractions sorted according to the methods disclosed herein or by the systems disclosed herein and / or optionally wherein the recycled material is obtained by recycling sorted plastic waste fraction(s) according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses disclosed herein, the apparatus comprising:

[0063] • an identifier provider configured to provide decentral identifier(s) associated with the input material,

[0064] • a decentral network communication interface configured to provide - based on the decentral identifier(s) - input material data associated with the input material from one or more network node(s) of a decentral network, wherein the input material data includes input material composition data and / or input material history data,

[0065] • a data providing interface configured to provide target property data associated with target property / ies of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof,

[0066] • a feed data generator configured to generate feed data for feeding the input material to the production for producing the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof based on the input material data and the provided target property data,

[0067] • a data providing interface configured to provide the generated feed data for producing the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof by the production.

[0068] In yet another aspect disclosed is a use of recycled material data and / or recycled material history data for producing plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof according to the methods disclosed herein or by 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0069] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0070] 7 the apparatuses or by the systems disclosed herein, wherein the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof include plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s).

[0071] In yet another aspect disclosed is a decentral data providing network node or service configured to provide the recycled material data and / or the recycled history data for producing plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses or systems disclosed herein, wherein the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof include plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s).

[0072] In yet another aspect disclosed is a method for monitoring an environmental impact of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, wherein the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof include plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the method comprising the steps of:

[0073] • producing the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof at least in part from recycled material, optionally wherein the recycled material is obtained by recycling plastic waste fractions sorted according to the methods disclosed herein or by the systems disclosed herein and / or optionally wherein the recycled material is obtained by recycling sorted plastic waste fraction(s) according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses disclosed herein

[0074] • providing identifier(s) associated with the produced plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof,

[0075] • providing production data associated with a production of the plastic product(s) and / or the part(s) thereof based on the identifier(s),

[0076] • determining - based on the production data - recycled content data associated with the produced plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof,

[0077] • generating a digital asset including the identifier(s) and the recycled content data,

[0078] • providing the produced plastic product(s) or part(s) thereof in association with the generated digital asset, wherein the generated digital asset is provided for access by one or more decentral network nodes of a decentral network.

[0079] In yet another aspect disclosed is a system for monitoring an environmental impact of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, wherein the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof include plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s) and wherein, the system comprising:

[0080] • a production configured to produce the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof at least in part from recycled material and to provide the produced plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof, optionally wherein the recycled material is obtained by recycling plastic waste fractions sorted according to the methods disclosed herein or by the systems disclosed herein and / or optionally wherein the recycled material is obtained by recycling sorted plastic waste fraction(s) according to the methods disclosed herein or by the apparatuses disclosed herein

[0081] • an identifier provider configured to provide identifier(s) associated with plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0082] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0083] 8

[0084] • a data providing interface configured to provide production data associated with a production of the plastic product(s) and / or the part(s) thereof based on the identifier(s),

[0085] • a recycled content generator configured to determine - based on the production data - recycled content data associated with the produced plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof,

[0086] • a digital asset generator configured to generate a digital asset including the identifier(s) and the recycled content data,

[0087] • a decentral network communication interface configured to provide the generated digital asset for access by one or more decentral network nodes of a decentral network.

[0088] In yet another aspect disclosed is a computer element with instructions, which when executed on one or more computing node(s) is configured to carry out the steps of the method(s) of disclosed herein or configured to be carried out by the apparatus(es) or system(s) disclosed herein.

[0089] Any disclosure, embodiments and examples described herein relate to the methods, the apparatuses, systems, the uses, the decentral data providing nodes and computer elements lined out above and below. Advantageously, the benefits provided by any of the embodiments and examples equally apply to all other embodiments and examples.

[0090] Embodiments

[0091] In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure will be outlined by ways of embodiments and / or examples. It is to be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to said embodiments and / or examples.

[0092] Recycling of plastic waste streams including plastic toys or parts thereof, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts requires proper sorting of the articles contained in the plastic waste stream into different waste fractions. Such sorting, however, is difficult due to the big variety of polymer types, grades, blends and / or additives. Hence, advance sorting methods are used that employ a combination of sensors, flotation and / or density separation to sort plastic waste stream into waste fractions that can be recycled. Such sorting methods lack the ability to consider contaminants and the origin, use and / or application of the waste articles during sorting. This hampers close material chains and hence also circular material loops. In addition, this hampers the use of recyclate obtained from recycling of such sorted waste fractions due to contaminants contained in such recyclate.

[0093] By using a data driven approach based on data accessible through a decentral network for sorting of waste plastic streams including waste plastic products, such as plastic toys and / or parts thereof, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts , the recycling of sorted waste fractions including plastic toys and / or parts thereof, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts and the reuse of recyclate obtained from such recycling to produce new plastic products, such as plastic toys and / or parts thereof, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, is improved. The data driven approach allows for simple 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0094] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0095] 9 extension of existing sorting facilities to produce reliable sorting results with high value waste streams. In addition, this data driven approach allows for simple extension of existing recycling facilities to produce high quality recyclate that can be used to produce new plastic products fulfilling strict regulations with respect to their properties despite the use of recyclate for their production. The data driven approach further allows for simple extension of existing plastic product production facilities to produce high quality plastic products or parts thereof, such as plastic toys, plastic toy parts, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, using recyclate produced from recycling sorted plastic waste fractions. This way, the amount of recyclate used during production of new plastic products or parts thereof may be increased without negatively influencing the properties of the produced plastic products or parts thereof. This allows to reduce the environmental impact of the plastic product production.

[0096] In particular, by accessing the material composition data and / or article history data based on the decentral identifier per waste article from one or more network node(s) of a decentral network and assigning the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data and / or article history data to one or more plastic waste fraction(s), the quality of the plastic waste fractions can be controlled in a simple and reliable manner. Furthermore, by specifically defining the sorting by plastic waste fractions that relate to pre-defined waste fractions, the plastic waste fractions can be tailored to the refeed of recyclate resulting from recycling of such sorted plastic waste fractions into respective product value chains, such as toy value chains, shoe value chains and / or furniture value chains. In addition, closed material loops may be enabled by allowing to sort waste products including plastic toys and / or parts thereof, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture into waste fractions based on the producer of such products. The sorted waste fractions may be recycled to produce recyclate and such recyclate may be provided to the product producer for use as input material in the production of new plastic products or parts thereof.

[0097] In particular, by accessing the fraction composition data and / or fraction history data based on the decentral identifier per sorted waste fraction from one or more network node(s) of a decentral network and generating feed data by matching said fraction composition data and / or fraction history data to target composition data, the quality of the recyclate can be controlled in a simple and reliable manner and can be tailored to the refeed of the recyclate into respective product value chains.

[0098] In particular, by accessing input material data based on the decentral identifier per input material from one or more network node(s) of a decentral network and generating feed data by matching said input material data to target property data, the quality of the produced plastic products and / or parts thereof, such as plastic toys and / or parts thereof, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, can be controlled in a simple and reliable manner, ensuring that the produced plastic products and / or parts thereof meet the strict requirements for such products, in particular for toys used by children.

[0099] The data driven approach may allow additional use of recyclates obtained by recycling plastic waste used in other industries, such as the automotive industry, the health sector, the food industry, the packaging 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0100] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0101] 10 industry, the household appliance industry or the like, during production of the plastic product without negatively impeding the high quality of the produced plastic products. In addition, closed material chains and hence also circular material loops may be enabled by allowing the use of recyclate obtained from recycling sorted plastic waste fractions within the toy industry, the shoe industry and / or the furniture industry. More flexibility may be achieved through tailoring the recycling of plastic waste to the production of new products based on recyclates obtained by recycling such plastic waste. For example, tailoring inputs allows to overcome shortages of recycled materials having a chemical composition required to efficiently produce new products and to improve recycling rates and recycling efficiency of plastic waste.

[0102] This way the recycling of waste plastic toys, waste plastic toy parts, waste plastic shoe parts and / or waste plastic furniture parts can be improved by increasing the quantity of recyclate refeedable into the toy production chain, the shoe production chain and / or the furniture production chain, respectively. As a result, the environmental impact of plastic products and hence also the plastic product production can be reduced.

[0103] Various units, entities, nodes or other computing components may be described as “configured to” perform a task or tasks. Configured to shall recite structure meaning “having circuitry that” performs the task or tasks on operation. The units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components can be configured to perform the task even when the unit / circuit / component is not operating. The units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components that form the structure corresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits and / or memory storing program instructions executable to implement the operation. The units, circuits, entities, nodes or other computing components may be described as performing a task or tasks, for convenience in the description. Such descriptions shall be interpreted as including the phrase “configured to.”

[0104] In general, the methods, apparatuses, systems, computer elements, nodes or other computing components described herein may include memory, software components and hardware components. The memory can include volatile memory such as static or dynamic random-access memory and / or nonvolatile memory such as optical or magnetic disk storage, flash memory, programmable read-only memories, etc. The hardware components may include any combination of combinatoric logic circuitry, clocked storage devices such as flops, registers, latches, etc., finite state machines, memory such as static random-access memory or embedded dynamic random-access memory, custom designed circuitry, programmable logic arrays, etc.

[0105] The article containing polymer(s), the waste article or the plastic article may include any product made of plastic material, any product including plastic material or any product including the article containing plastic. Plastic material may relate to a formulation consisting of polymer(s) optionally combined with various additives, such as stabilizers, fillers, plasticizers, dyes, pigments or the like. Plastic material may relate to a composite material or a foamed material, such as a polyurethane foam. The polymer(s) may 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0106] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0107] 11 be selected from polyethylene (PE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear LDPE (LLDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polyoxmethylene (POM), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), poly ethylene terephthalate (PET), poly butylene terephthalate (PBT), acrylnitril-butadiene-styrene (ABS), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), polyurethane (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), polystyrene (PS), polylactic acid (PLA), polyvinylchloride (PVC), polycarbonate (PC) and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). Articles containing polymer(s) may include thermosets, e.g. hard and durable plastics used, for instance, in car parts, thermoplastics e.g. easily molded into packaging and / or elastomers, e.g. soft plastics with rubber-like properties. Uses of articles containing polymer(s) may include packaging for food or non-food products, textiles, building and construction, batteries, automotive, electronics or toys. Application of articles containing polymer(s) may include bottles, mattresses, foils, fibers, toys, toy parts or the like.

[0108] Polymer may relate to a chemical compound characterized by a sequence of one or more types of monomer units chemically bound to each other. Examples of polymers include oligomers, homopolymers and copolymers. Oligomer may relate to a polymer consisting of only a few monomer units up to about ten monomer units, for example a dimer, trimer or tetramer. Monomer relates to a substance which is capable of forming covalent bonds with a sequence of additional like or unlike molecules under the conditions of the relevant polymer-forming reaction used for the particular process. The monomers and oligomers contained in the recyclate may be used to prepare a polymer and may hence be regarded as prepolymer. Oligomeric compounds are typically liquid at room temperature and ambient pressure whereby the dynamic viscosity is preferably less than 500 Pa*s and more preferably less than 200 Pa*s at 23° C measured according to DIN EN ISO 2555 (Brookfield method).

[0109] Plastic waste stream may include one or more waste plastic article(s). The plastic waste stream may include plastic waste toys and / or parts thereof, plastic shoe part(s) and / or plastic furniture part(s). The plastic waste stream may include articles of one or more type(s). The type may refer to the type of article, the type of plastic material the article contains, the type of material the article contains, the type of use of the article and / or the type of application of the article. The plastic waste stream may be a uniform plastic waste stream including articles of one type, particularly articles containing one type of plastic material. The plastic waste stream may be a mixed plastic waste stream including articles of different types, particularly articles containing multiple types of plastic material. The plastic waste stream may include non-plastic articles or non-plastic parts such as glass, stone, or inorganics, and / or non-plastic impurities such as biogenic impurities. The plastic waste stream may include industrial waste and / or postconsumer waste.

[0110] The plastic product or part thereof may include plastic toys, plastic toy parts, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts. The plastic toy or part thereof may include or consist of at least one polymer. The toy may be a toy for children. The toy may be designed to be used by children. The toy may be designed to be used by any person including children. The toy part may be a plastic part of a toy. The toy part may 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0111] 12 be permanently attached to the toy. The toy part may be detachable from the toy. The toy part may be used to produce the toy. The plastic toy may be a toy containing plastic material. The plastic toy may consist of plastic material. The plastic toy part may be a part containing plastic material. The plastic toy part may consist of plastic material. The plastic shoe part and / or the plastic furniture part may include or consist of at least one polymer. The polymer may be selected from ethylene vinyl acetates (EVA), polyurethanes, thermoplastic polyurethanes, natural rubbers, synthetic rubbers, such as styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), polybutadiene rubber and chloroprene rubber, polyvinyl chlorides (PVC) or any combinations thereof. The plastic shoe part may include or consist of at least one polymer foam. Polymer foams may include porous materials consisting of a polymer matrix with gas-filled cells distributed throughout the material structure. The gas bubbles may be closed (closed-cell foam) or interconnected (open-cell foam). The foam may include expanded thermoplastic polyurethane particles, thermoplastic polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, polycarbonate, polystyrene, polyethylene, polypropylene, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyoxymethylene, polytetrafluoroethylene, or any combinations thereof. The plastic shoe part may include or consist of at least one polymer. The polymer may be selected from polyvinyl chlorides (PVC), polypropylenes, polyethylenes, polymethyl (meth)acrylates, polyurethanes, polyamides or any combinations thereof. The plastic furniture part may include or consist of at least one polymer foam. The foam may include polyurethane foams, polyethylene foams, viscoelastic polyurethane foams, polyisoprene foams, styrene butadiene rubber foams or any combinations thereof.

[0112] The composition data may relate to the material composition of the article, the sorted waste fraction or the recycled material. The composition data may specify the material composition of the article, sorted waste fraction or the recycled material. For example, the composition data may specify polymer(s), composite material, combination of composite materials, foamed material, combination of foamed materials, contaminants for recycling in relation to one or more recycling process(es), contaminants for production of new products in relation to one or more production process(es), degradation level, recyclate content, monomer content and / or polymer content.

[0113] The history data may relate to the origin, use, and / or application of the article, sorted waste fraction or the recycled material. The history data may specify the origin, use, and / or application of the article, sorted waste fraction or the recycled material. For example, the origin may relate to a location, a region and / or a manufacturer of the article or any part thereof, the sorted waste fraction or the recycled material. The origin may refer to the location, the region and / or the manufacturer of an input material used to produce the article, the sorted waste fraction or the recycled material. For example, the use may relate to a use of the article or any part thereof, the sorted waste fraction or the recycled material. The use may refer to the article’s or recycled material's use in a specific application such as food packaging, non-food packaging, car parts, shoe parts, furniture parts, electronics parts, toys, toy parts, battery parts or the like. For example, the application may relate to any application of the article or any part thereof or the 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0114] 13 recycled material. The application may refer to the article’s or recycled material's application such as toy, toy part, shoe part, furniture part, bottle, foil, fiber, mattress, crates or the like.

[0115] Sorting of plastic waste stream may provide plastic waste fraction(s). Plastic waste fraction(s) may include articles containing polymers sorted by article(s) of one or more type(s), in particular material type(s). At least one of the plastic waste fractions includes toys and / or parts thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s). The plastic waste fraction may include toys and / or parts thereof. The plastic waste fraction may include shoe parts. The plastic waste fraction may include furniture parts. The waste fraction may be tailored to specific recycling process(es) and / or specific uses of the recyclate resulting from such recycling process(es). Plastic waste fraction may relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for a petrochemical process. The petrochemical process may include at least one process configured to break saturated hydrocarbons at least partially into unsaturated hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon recyclate may be produced by pyrolysis. Plastic waste fraction may relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrogen-based chemical process. The recyclate mixture may include 30 to 60 % carbon monoxide and 25 to 30 % hydrogen. The recyclate mixture may be used as hydrogen source in chemical process chemically converting input materials to products. The recyclate mixture may be produced by gasification. Plastic waste fraction may relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a polymer and / or monomer recyclate for a monomer, polymer and / or plastic product production process. The monomer recyclate may include one or more building block(s) of the polymer. The monomer recyclate may include the building block(s) to produce one or more polymer(s). The monomer recyclate may include premonomer to produce one or more polymer(s). The polymer recyclate may include one or more polymer type(s) or plastic compound(s). The monomer recyclate may be produced by depolymerization. Plastic waste fraction may relate to a waste fraction to be processed by a solvent-based recycling process to produce a polymer and / or monomer recyclate for monomer, polymer and / or article production process. The polymer recyclate may include one or more polymer type(s) or plastic compound(s). The polymer and / or monomer recyclate may be produced by dissolution. Plastic waste fraction may relate to a waste fraction to be processed by mechanical recycling.

[0116] Recyclate may relate to any products resulting from one or more recycling process(es). Recyclate may refer to any mixture resulting from one or more recycling process(es). Recyclate may refer to any products or mixtures resulting from one or more recycling process(es) and associated pre- or post-processing steps, e.g. as performed by one participant of the material chain. The polymer recyclate may contain one or more polymer(s), one or more oligomer(s) or mixtures thereof. The monomer recyclate may contain one or more monomer(s), one or more monomer precursor(s) or pre-monomers or mixtures thereof. The recyclate may be used as input material in the production of new plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0117] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0118] 14

[0119] The fraction control data for sorting the one or more article(s) to the assigned waste fraction may include control signals for controlling a sorting equipment such as separators configured to separate waste articles into waste fractions. The fraction control data may relate to individual waste articles. The fraction control data may relate individual waste articles to a specific plastic waste fraction. The plastic waste fractions may relate to spatially separated fractions for sorting the waste articles.

[0120] The feed data for monitoring and / or controlling recycling of sorted plastic waste fraction(s) may include control signals for monitoring and / or controlling one or more recycling process(es) used to recycle the sorted plastic waste fraction(s). The feed data may relate to individual sorted waste fractions. The feed data for monitoring and / or controlling production of new plastic products and / or parts thereof may include control signals for monitoring and / or controlling one or more production process(es) used to produce the new plastic products and / or parts thereof. The feed data may relate to individual batches of recycled material. The feed data may relate to at least two different batches of recycled material.

[0121] The identifier element per article may relate to at least one decentral article identifier associated with the article. The identifier element may include any physical arrangement that associates the article identifier with the article or at least one component of the article. The identifier element may comprise a passive or active element, e.g. QR-code, RFID-tag, but is not limited thereto. The identifier element may be a physical identifier physically connected to the article or at least one component of the article. The identifier element may include markers embedded in materials, a bar code, a QR-Code, a tag like a RFID tag or similar physical arrangement that allows to digitally identify the article or at least one component of the article.

[0122] The identifier element may uniquely relate to the article. The identifier element may uniquely relate to the digital article identifier. The digital article identifier may uniquely relate to the article. This way material composition data and / or article history data may be provided per article or for individual articles. The article identifier may include one or more decentral identifier(s) uniquely related to the article. The article identifier may relate to one or more decentral identifier(s) signifying the digital twin of the physical entity of the article. The decentral identifier may be a digital identifier of or for the decentral network. The decentral identifier may be a digital identifier provided to the decentral network and participant nodes of the decentral network. The decentral identifier may hence signify physical entities of articles in the decentral network and participant nodes may be able to interpret the relation of the decentral identifier to the physical entities of articles.

[0123] The decentral identifier may comprise any unique identifier uniquely associated with the data owner and the article, the sorted plastic waste fraction, the recycled material, and / or the plastic product, such as the plastic toy, plastic toy part, plastic shoe part and / or plastic furniture part. The decentral identifier may include one or more Universally Unique Identifier(s) (UUID(s)) and / or Digital Identifier(s) (DID(s)). The decentral identifier may be issued by a central or decentral identity issuer. The decentral identifier may 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0124] 15 include authentication information. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the data owner and the article, the sorted plastic waste fraction, the recycled material, the plastic product or plastic product part respectively, access to respective composition data and / or history data may be controlled by the data owner. This contrasts with central authority schemes, where identifiers are provided by such central authority and access to data is controlled by such central authority. The decentral identifier may be discoverable and / or accessible for decentral network nodes of the decentral network. The decentral identifier may include one or more identifier(s) used in the decentral network and allowing for data exchange via the decentral network. Data exchange may include discovery of the decentral identifier for network nodes of the decentral network, authentication of network nodes of the decentral network and / or authorization of data transfers via a peer-to-peer communication between network nodes of the decentral network. The decentral identifier may be associated with participants of a material chain network, particularly a material loop, including chemical product producer, intermediate chemical product producer, plastic product producer, plastic product user, end product collector, end product sorter and / or end product recycler. The decentral identifier may be associated with chemical product, intermediate chemical product, articles, articles to be recycled or end-of-life articles of a material chain network, particularly a material loop.

[0125] The decentral identifier(s) may be uniquely associated with the decentral participant identifier associated with the decentral provider network node configured to provide composition data and / or history data the decentral identifier(s) are associated with and an endpoint of such decentral provider network node. The decentral identifier(s) may be uniquely associated with the decentral participant identifier associated with the decentral provider network node. The decentral provider network node may be any computing node or data storage structure providing an endpoint accessible for the decentral consumer network node(s) via the decentral network protocol. Decentral in this context may refer to implementations where the composition data and / or the history data is stored in a local database associated with the data owner of such data, such as the article producer, chemical product producer, and access to such data stored in such local database is controlled by the data owner based on the decentral identifier(s) and decentral participant identifier(s) associated with decentral consumer network node(s) requesting access to such data.

[0126] The article, sorted plastic waste fraction, recycled material and plastic product and / or parts thereof may be associated with a respective passport including a respective decentral identifier (e.g. decentral article identifier, decentral fraction identifier, decentral recycled material identifier or decentral plastic product identifier) and respective data (e.g. article data, fraction data, recycled material data or plastic product data). The article data, fraction data or recycled material data may include the respective composition data and / or the respective history data. The plastic product data may include data associated with the property / ies and / or uses of the plastic product or the part thereof. The passport may be stored in a database associated with the data owner for access by data consumer(s), such as article user(s), sorted 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0127] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0128] 16 plastic waste fraction user(s) or recycled material user(s). Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner via the decentral identifier. The passport and / or the decentral identifier may be associated with a digital representation of the respective data (e.g. article data, fraction data, recycled material data or toy data). The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the respective data. The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network for the decentral identifier to be discoverable and / or accessible for decentral network nodes of the decentral network. The digital representation may be provided to a decentral database accessible for at least a part of the decentral network nodes. Access to such database may be controlled by the data owner of the passports the digital representation is associated with based on decentral participant identifiers associated with the decentral participant nodes.

[0129] The decentral network may include one or more decentral network node(s) configured to perform data transactions. The data transactions may be based on a transaction protocol including authentication and / or authorization mechanism(s). Based on the authentication and / or authorization mechanism(s) a peer-to-peer network between decentral network node(s) of the decentral network may be established. The one or more authentication mechanism(s) may be associated with or linked to the decentral identifier. The one or more authentication mechanism(s) associated with the decentral identifier may be provided to decentral network node(s). The one or more authentication mechanism(s) associated with the decentral identifier may be accessible by decentral network node(s). The decentral configuration allows for more efficient use of computing resources and strengthens control by each data owner of the decentral network.

[0130] The decentral network node(s) may be associated with participants. The participants may be part of a product ecosystem. The product ecosystem may include different stages including manufacturing, use and re-use. In these stages one or more ecosystem participant(s) may contribute to the manufacture, use or re-use of a product. For example, the manufacturing stage may include raw material manufacturers, intermediate material manufactures and / or end-product manufacturers. Further for example, the use stage may include product user, product maintainers and / or product distributors. Further for example, the re-use stage may include collectors, sorters, dismantlers, recyclers, restorers and / or re-furbishers. The product may be an intermediate chemical product, a chemical product, a plastic product and / or a part thereof, a waste plastic product and / or part thereof, a sorted plastic waste fraction or a recycled material.

[0131] The article, sorted plastic waste fraction, recycled material, plastic product or plastic product part may be associated with a digital twin including data characterizing the article, sorted plastic waste fraction, recycled material, plastic product or plastic product part. The article may be associated with article data characterizing the article. The article data may relate to at least one property of the article and / or to the use of the article. The plastic article data may include composition data and / or article history data. The sorted plastic waste fraction may be associated with fraction data characterizing the sorted plastic waste fraction. The fraction data may relate to at least one property of the sorted plastic waste fraction and / or 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0132] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0133] 17 to the use of the sorted plastic waste fraction. The fraction data may include fraction composition data and / or fraction history data. The recycled material may be associated with recycled material data characterizing the recycled material. The recycled material data may relate to at least one property of the recycled material and / or to the use of the recycled material. The recycled material data may include recycled material composition data and / or recycled material history data. The plastic product or part thereof may be associated with plastic product data characterizing the plastic product or the part thereof. The plastic product data may relate to at least one property of the plastic product or the part thereof and / or to the use of the plastic product or the part thereof.

[0134] The target composition data may contain material composition data associated with the material composition of the recycled material. Hence, the target composition data describes the target chemical composition of the recycled material.

[0135] The target property data may include chemical property / ies and / or physical property / ies of plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof. The target property data may include chemical property / ies and / or physical property / ies of plastic product type(s) and / or types of toy part(s). Hence, the target property data describes the target properties of the plastic product and / or the part thereof.

[0136] Input material may refer to any good which is bought from suppliers and brought to the plastic product production. The input material may include starting material used in the production process of the production to produce the plastic product or the part thereof. An input material can be used in any production step used to produce the plastic product or the part thereof. Input material may include recycled material. The input material may comprise or be any input material entering the plastic product production. The input material may comprise or be any input material provided at any entry point of the plastic product production.

[0137] In an embodiment, the polymer(s) are selected from polyethylene(s) (PE), low density polyethylene(s) (LDPE), linear LDPE (LLDPE), high density polyethylene(s) (HDPE), polyoxmethylene(s) (POM), polypropylene(s) (PP), polyamide(s) (PA), poly ethylene terephthalate(s) (PET), poly butylene terephthalate(s) (PBT), acrylnitril-butadiene-styrene(s) (ABS), polymethylmethacrylate(s) (PMMA), polyurethane(s) (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane(s) (TPU), viscoelastic polyurethane(s) (VPU), polystyrene(s) (PS), polylactic acid(s) (PLA), polyvinylchloride(s) (PVC), polycarbonate(s) (PC), thermoplastic elastomer(s) (TPE), ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer(s) (EVA), polyisoprenes or any mixtures thereof. The thermoplastic elastomer(s) may be selected from styrene block copolymers, such as Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) and Styrene-Ethylene-Butylene-Styrene (SEBS), thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), copolyester elastomers (COPE) produced by copolymerizing polyester(s) with diol(s), thermoplastic olefins (TPO), polyether block amides (PEBA) and / or combinations thereof. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0138] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0139] 18

[0140] In another embodiment, at least one of the plastic waste fraction(s) includes or consists of the toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s). This way, recyclate from waste toys, waste toy parts, waste shoe parts and / or waste furniture parts may be obtained, allowing closed material loops with respect to the production of new plastic toys, plastic toy parts, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts using such recyclate. By sorting waste toys and / or parts thereof based on the material composition data and / or the article history data, it can be ensured that the obtained recyclate can be used to produce new plastic toys and / or parts thereof fulfilling strict regulations with respect to the chemical and physical properties of such toys. By sorting waste shoe parts and / or waste furniture parts based on the material composition data and / or the article history data, it can be ensured that the obtained recyclate can be used to produce new plastic shoe parts and / or furniture parts fulfilling target chemical and / or physical property / ies.

[0141] In another embodiment the pre-determined plastic waste fraction(s) relate to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) to be processed by

[0142] • a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for use in a petrochemical process,

[0143] • a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for use in a hydrogen-based chemical process,

[0144] • a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and / or polymer recyclate for use in a polymer, component and / or plastic product production process,

[0145] • a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and / or polymer recyclate for used in a polymer, component and / or plastic product production process, and / or

[0146] • a mechanical recycling process to produce a polymer recyclate for use in a component and / or plastic product production process.

[0147] In particular, the pre-determine plastic waste fraction(s) may relate to plastic waste fraction(s) to be processed by a mechanical recycling process to produce a polymer recyclate. Such polymer recyclate may be used by plastic product producer(s) to produce new plastic products and / or parts thereof, such as plastic toys, plastic toy parts, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, by using the polymer recyclate as input material for the plastic product production process.

[0148] In another embodiment assigning the one or more waste article(s) to the pre-defined waste fraction(s) includes classification of the one or more waste article(s) according to classification instructions relating material composition data and / or article history data to the one or more pre-defined plastic waste fraction(s)The classification instructions are configured to assign the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data per waste article and / or the article history data per waste article to the pre-defined plastic waste fraction(s). The classification ensures that sorting can be conducted in a data- driven manner, allowing to simplify the sorting process and ensuring the quality of the resulting sorted plastic waste fractions. The classification instructions may be configured to classify the one or more waste articles according to the material composition data and / or article history data to the pre-defined waste 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0149] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0150] 19 fraction(s). This may include classifying the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data and / or the article history data per waste article to the pre-defined plastic waste fraction(s). Assigning the one or more waste article(s) to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) may include providing classification instructions configured to relate material compositions data per waste article and / or article history data per waste article to the pre-defined waste fraction(s).

[0151] In another embodiment assigning the one or more waste article(s) the pre-defined waste fraction(s) includes providing classification instructions configured to gather the material compositions data per waste article and / or article history data per waste article based on the decentral identifier associated with the respective waste article. The gathered material compositions data per waste article and / or article history data per waste article and waste fraction may be provided for generation of the fraction control data to sort the one or more article(s). The position or location of the articles associated with the decentral identifiers per article and waste fraction may be provided as part of the fraction control data to sort the one or more article(s). The control data may be provided to a sorting system configured to sort the one or more article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s). Assigning the one or more article(s) to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) may include providing classification instructions, wherein the classification instructions specify the pre-defined waste fraction(s) by fraction composition per predefined waste fraction, a fraction history per pre-defined waste fraction, a recycling process per predefined waste fraction, a recyclate use per pre-defined waste fraction or combinations thereof. Assigning the one or more article(s) to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) may include providing classification instructions, wherein the classification instructions specify the pre-defined waste fraction by origin, use, application, material composition of waste article(s), history data of waste article(s), contaminant(s) hampering recycling and / or use of the recyclate, amount(s) and / or range(s) per contaminant, polymer(s), polymer type(s). Contaminant(s) hampering recycling and / or use of the recyclate obtained by recycling sorted plastic waste fraction(s) may include contaminant(s) negatively influencing the quality of the recyclate and / or the recycling process. The quality of the recyclate may relate to the material composition of the recyclate. Negatively influencing the recycling process may include negatively influencing the operation and / or processes performing within recycling plant(s) of the recycling process.

[0152] In another embodiment the plastics waste fraction(s) specify a fraction composition per plastic waste fraction, a fraction history per plastic waste fraction, a recycling process per plastic waste fraction, a recyclate use per plastic waste fraction or combinations thereof. The plastic waste fraction(s) may specify a polymer composition, one or more contaminant(s) hampering recycling and / or use of the recyclate, a content and / or range per contaminant, a degradation level for one or more polymer type(s), one or more local origin(s), one or more manufacturer origin(s), one or more article application(s), one or more article use(s) and / or a polymer content. The plastic waste fraction(s) may specify at least one plastic waste fraction being rich of thermoplastic elastomer(s), in particular being rich of thermoplastic elastomer containing toys and / or parts thereof, and at least one plastic waste fraction being depleted of 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0153] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0154] 20 thermoplastic elastomer(s), at least one plastic waste fraction being rich of contaminant(s) hampering recycling and / or use of the recyclate and at least one plastic waste fraction being depleted of contaminant(s) hampering recycling and / or use of the recyclate, at least one plastic waste fraction being rich of degraded waste article(s) and at least one plastic waste fraction being rich of none-degraded waste article(s), at least one plastic waste fraction being rich of monomer(s) and at least plastic waste fraction being depleted of monomer(s) and / or at least one plastic waste fraction being rich of polymer(s) and at least one plastic waste being depleted of polymer(s). The plastic waste fraction(s) may specify at least one plastic waste fraction being rich of thermoplastic elastomer(s), in particular being rich of thermoplastic elastomer containing toys and / or parts thereof and being depleted of contaminant(s) hampering recycling and / or use of the recyclate. The plastic waste fraction(s) may specify at least one plastic waste fraction being rich of thermoplastic elastomer(s), in particular being rich of thermoplastic elastomer containing toys and / or parts thereof, shoe parts and / or furniture parts, being depleted of contaminant(s) hampering recycling and / or use of the recyclate and being rich of waste article(s) produced by a given manufacturer. The plastic waste fraction(s) may specify at least one plastic waste fraction being rich of thermoplastic elastomer(s), in particular being rich of thermoplastic elastomer containing toys and / or parts thereof, shoe parts and / or furniture parts, being depleted of contaminant(s) hampering recycling and / or use of the recyclate, being rich of waste article(s) produced by a given manufacturer and being rich of waste article(s) associated with an application and / or use within the toy industry. By way of accessibility of data through the decentral network, the sorting depth can be enhanced and more reliable sorting can be ensured.

[0155] In another embodiment assigning the one or more waste article(s) to the pre-defined waste fraction(s) includes providing classification instructions by one or more decentral network node(s) associated with one or more producer(s) performing petrochemical or refinery processes using a hydrocarbon recyclate as input material, performing hydrogen-based chemical processes using a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide as input material, and / or performing plastic product production processes using a polymer recyclate as input material. This way the sorting of waste article(s) into waste fractions can be tailored to the use of the recyclate obtained from recycling the sorted plastic waste fraction(s). The classification instructions may additionally or alternatively be provided by one or more decentral network node(s) associated with one or more recycler(s) operating recycling processes to recycle the sorted plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the recycling process(es) include pyrolysis, gasification, mechanical recycling, depolymerization and / or dissolution. This way the sorting of the waste article(s) into waste fractions can be tailored to the recycling process.

[0156] The classification instructions may be executed by one or more decentral network node(s) of the decentral network, such as the decentral network node associated with a sorter sorting waste article(s) into plastic waste fraction(s), a recycler producing recyclate from sorted plastic waste fractions, a chemical product producer producing chemical product(s) using the recyclate as input material and / or a plastic product 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0157] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0158] 21 producer producing plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof using the recyclate as input material. The classification instructions may be provided by one or more decentral network node(s) of the decentral network such as the decentral network node associated with the chemical product producer, a monomer producer producing monomer(s) using the recyclate as input material, a polymer producer producing polymer(s) using the recyclate as input material, a polymer user using the produced polymer(s) and / or a plastic product producer producing plastic product(s) or parts thereof using the monomer(s), polymer(s) and / or the recyclate as input material. The classification instructions may be executed by the sorting system. The execution of the classification instructions by the sorting system may reduce latency. The classification instructions may be executed by a computing node associated with the chemical product producer, the monomer producer, the polymer producer and / or the article producer. The execution of the classification instructions by the chemical product producer, the monomer producer, the polymer producer and / or the plastic product producer may be required for information protection e.g. if the classification instructions include secret process know-how or secret material composition data.

[0159] In another embodiment the material composition data relates to a chemical composition specifying the chemical compound(s) contained in the waste article(s). The chemical compound(s) include monomer(s), monomer type(s), polymer(s), polymer type(s), additive(s), additive type(s), pigment(s), pigment type(s), substance(s) and / or substance type(s) impeding the processing of the article(s) and / or substance(s) and / or substance type(s) impeding the use of a recyclate obtained from recycling the article(s). By providing details on the material composition of the waste article(s) the sorting depth of plastic waste streams can be enhanced through access of such material composition data via the decentral network. Complex sensor systems can thus be avoided leading to simpler sorting facilities that can be build and maintained at lower cost. In addition, the quality of the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) can be enhanced based on the material composition data accessed via the decentral network since material composition may not be reliably detected by the complex sensor systems.

[0160] In another embodiment the article history data relates to a use, an application and / or an origin of the waste article(s). By providing origin, use and / or application data for sorting of plastic waste streams, closed material loops e.g. for specific origins, applications and / or uses can be enabled through more tailored sorting of the waste article(s) contained in the plastic waste stream.

[0161] The material composition data and / or the article history data may be provided by one or more network node(s) of the decentral network. The one or more network node(s) may be associated with a producer of at least one monomer or polymer contained in the article, a producer of an intermediate product contained in the article, a producer of the article, a user of the article, a collector of the article, or combinations thereof. The producer of at least one monomer or polymer contained in the article may provide monomer or polymer data associated with the article. The producer of an intermediate product contained in the article may provide intermediate product data associated with the article. The producer of the article may provide article data associated with the article. A user of the article may provide article 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0162] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0163] 22 use data associated with the use of the article. A collector of the article may provide collection data associated with the collection of the article. This allows for higher sorting depth by accessing material composition data and / or the article history data from different participant of the material chain up from monomer production to the use and collection of the article.

[0164] In an embodiment the fraction control data is provided to a sorting system configured to sort the one or more waste article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s) based on the fraction control data. The sorting system may include a sensor configured to detect an identification element per waste article. The sorting system may further include a decentral network interface for accessing material composition data and / or article history data based on the detected identification element.

[0165] In an embodiment the material composition data and / or article history data associated with the one or more waste article(s) is gathered per waste article and aggregated to fraction data including fraction composition data and / or fraction history data. Aggregating the material composition data and / or article history data per sorted plastic waste fraction allows to provide such aggregated data for access via the decentral network to user(s) of the sorted plastic waste fractions, such as recyclers. This way, the recycling process may be controlled based on the aggregated material composition data and / or article history data. A fraction identifier may be provided and the fraction data including fraction composition data and / or fraction history data may be assigned to the fraction identifier. The fraction identifier may include at least one decentral fraction identifier. The decentral fraction identifier and a digital representation of the fraction data is provided for access by one or more decentral network node(s) of the decentral network. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the fraction data. The fraction data may be stored in a database accessible by the data owner. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner of the fraction data, such as the sorter, based on the decentral identifier.

[0166] A recycling process identifier may be provided and the recycling process identifier may be assigned to the fraction identifier. The recycling process identifier may include at least one decentral recycling identifier. The fraction composition data and / or fraction history data may be provided for access by one or more decentral network node(s) associated with a recycler processing at least a part of the plastic waste fraction(s) and / or a chemical producer processing at least a part of the plastic waste fraction(s) based on the decentral recycling identifier. By providing fraction data associated with sorted plastic waste fraction(s) via the decentral network, the quality of the recyclate resulting from recycling of the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) may be improved. This way, the use of the recyclate to produce new plastic product(s) or part(s) thereof may be improved, allowing to reduce the environmental impact of such new plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof.

[0167] In another embodiment, the method for sorting a plastic waste stream includes a step of providing waste article(s) for which no identification element was detected to a sensor system. Fraction control data for 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0168] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0169] 23 separating such waste article(s) into one or more plastic waste fraction(s) may be generated upon detecting such waste article(s) by the sensor system. The waste article(s) may be separated into the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) based on the fraction control data. By using an additional sensor system in combination with the data-driven approach, the amount of waste article(s) that can be reliably sorted into plastic waste fraction(s) may be improved, hence reducing the amount of unassigned plastic waste which cannot be recycled.

[0170] In an embodiment the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) are produced by the method for controlling sorting of a plastic waste stream or by the apparatus for controlling sorting of the plastic waste stream. This way, a high quality of the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) with respect to material composition and / or article history may be ensured.

[0171] In another embodiment providing the decentral identifier(s) includes detecting at least one identifier element per sorted waste fraction and providing the decentral identifier(s) based on the detected identifier element(s). The at least one identifier element may be related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the sorted waste fraction (e.g. the decentral fraction identifier). The at least one identifier element may be detected as previously described. The decentral identifier may be determined based on the data encoded by the identifier element. The decentral identifier may be determined based on digital representation(s) of article data.

[0172] In another embodiment the fraction composition data relates to a chemical composition specifying the chemical compound(s) contained in the sorted waste fraction(s), wherein the chemical compound(s) include monomer(s), monomer type(s), polymer(s), polymer type(s), additive(s), additive type(s), pigment(s), pigment type(s), substance(s) and / or substance type(s) impeding the processing of the sorted waste fraction(s) and / or substance(s) and / or substance type(s) impeding the use of a recyclate obtained from recycling the sorted waste fraction(s). By providing details on the material composition of the sorted waste article(s) the recycling of such sorted waste article(s) can be enhanced through access of such material composition data via the decentral network. This way, the quality of the recycled material obtained from the recycling can be enhanced based on the material composition data accessed via the decentral network, ensuring that the recycled material can be used to produce new plastic products, such as plastic toys, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts without negatively impeding the quality of such products due to the use of the recycled material during production of such products.

[0173] In another embodiment the fraction history data relates to a use, an application and / or an origin of the sorted waste fraction(s). By providing origin, use and / or application data for recycling of sorted plastic waste fractions, closed material loops e.g. for specific origins, applications and / or uses can be enabled through more tailored recycling of the plastic waste fractions. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0174] 24

[0175] In another embodiment the target property data includes material composition data associated with the material composition of the recycled material, recycling process data associated with recycling process(es) for producing the recycled material, the origin of the plastic waste fraction(s), application(s) of article(s) contained in the waste fraction(s), and / or use data associated with use(s) of the recycled material. The material composition data may define material(s) and associated amount(s) to be included in the recycled material. The material composition data may define threshold value(s) for contaminant(s) contained within the recycled material. The threshold value(s) may be maximum threshold value(s) defining the maximum amount per contaminant which can be present within the recycled material. The material composition data may specify target material composition of the recycled material obtained from recycling one or more sorted plastic waste fractions. Recycling process data may specify one or more recycling process(es) to be used for producing the recycled material. Use data may relate to use(s) of the recycled material by downstream participants of the product ecosystem, such as chemical product producers and / or toy producers. Use data may relate to the production of new products using the recycled material. Use data may specify the use of the recycled material for producing new plastic products and / or parts thereof. By using target composition data to generate the feed data, it can be ensured that the recycled material fulfils specification(s) of downstream participants using such recycled material. This way, the use of the recycled material to produce new products may be improved while avoiding negative influences on the quality of such product(s) and / or production process(es) used to produce such products.

[0176] In an embodiment the target property data is provided by one or more decentral network node(s) associated with one or more producer(s) performing chemical processes using the recycled material as input material and / or performing plastic product production processes using the recycled as input material. The feed data generation may be performed by the recycling system. The generation of the feed data by the recycling system may reduce latency. The feed data generation may be performed by a computing node associated with the chemical product producer, the monomer producer, the polymer producer and / or the plastic product producer. The generation of the feed data by the chemical product producer, the monomer producer, the polymer producer and / or the plastic product producer may be required for information protection e.g. if the target composition data includes secret process know-how, secret material composition data or secret use data.

[0177] In an embodiment the feed data is determined by instructions configured to match the fraction data to target property data per recycling process and / or per use of the recycled material obtained from the recycling process. The instructions may be configured to match the material composition data included in the fraction data to the material composition data included in the target property data. The instructions may be configured to match the fraction history data included in the fraction data to the origin, application(s) and / or uses included in the target property data. Through matching the fraction data accessed via the decentral network to the target property data based on the instructions, recycled material fulfilling a target property / ies for a given use of the recycled material may be produced from the 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0178] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0179] 25 recycling process. This way, the composition of the recycled material may be tailored to use of the recycled material, allowing to use the recycled material for producing new products required to fulfil strict requirements with respect to contaminants contained in such products, such as plastic toys and / or parts thereof, and hence enabling loop material flows despite requiring a low level or absence of contaminants in the products. Increasing the amount of recycled material that can be used to produce new products allows to improve the environmental impact of the product production and hence also the environmental impact of the product ecosystem including the products.

[0180] In another embodiment the feed data is generated by determining mixture data specifying sorted plastic waste fractions to be mixed prior to providing the mixed plastic waste fractions to the recycling process. Mixture data may be generated based on material composition data of the sorted plastic waste fractions and the target property data. Mixture data may be generated by determining weighted quantities of the sorted plastic waste fractions depending on the fraction data per sorted plastic waste fraction and the target property data. By blending sorted plastic waste fractions in a targeted manner based on target property / ies of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof produced from recycled materials obtained by recycling the blended plastic waste fractions, produced recycled materials can be used more effectively within the plastic product ecosystems, such as plastic toy ecosystems, shoe ecosystems and / or furniture ecosystems, while reliably managing the quality constraints such target property / ies impose on feedstocks. In particular, generating the mixture data for blending the sorted plastic waste fractions based on target property data specific to the toy production, the shoe part production and / or the furniture part production allows for reliable, effective and efficient usage of recycled materials as feedstocks to produce new plastic products and / or parts thereof, such as plastic toys, plastic toy parts, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts.

[0181] In another embodiment the feed data includes feed data package(s). The feed data packages may include a collection of fraction identifiers associated with the sorted plastic waste fractions, and optionally with recycled material(s) associated with the recycled material(s) to be produced. The feed data packages may include a collection of fraction identifiers associated with sorted waste fractions that result in recycled material fulfilling target composition data for a given recycling process. The feed data packages may be linked to a recycling process identifier.

[0182] In another embodiment, the feed data includes fraction identifier(s) of sorted plastic waste fraction(s) to be processed within a recycling step and an associated recycling process identifier. The feed data may further include the use of recycled material produced based on the feed data. The feed data may include instruction(s) defining the recycling step(s) to be performed. The feed data may include instruction(s) for mixing at least two sorted plastic waste fraction(s) to achieve recycled material fulfilling target property data prior to providing such mixture to a recycling step. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0183] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0184] 26

[0185] In another embodiment the feed data is provided to a recycling plant configured to recycle at least a part of the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) based on the feed data. The recycling plant may be configured to mix sorted plastic waste fractions prior to providing the mixture to one or more recycling steps. The recycling plant may be configured to perform one or more recycling step(s) to produce recycled material from one or more sorted plastic waste fraction(s).

[0186] In another embodiment the fraction composition data and / or fraction history data associated with the one or more sorted plastic waste fraction(s) is gathered per plastic waste fraction used to produce the recycled material and aggregated to recycled material data including recycled material composition data and / or recycled material history data. Aggregating the fraction composition data and / or fraction history data per recycled material allows to provide such aggregated data for access via the decentral network to user(s) of the recycled material, such as chemical product producer and / or plastic product producers. This way, the production process may be controlled based on the aggregated fraction composition data and / or fraction history data. A recycled material identifier may be provided and the recycled material data including recycled material composition data and / or recycled material history data may be assigned to the recycled material identifier. The recycled material identifier may include at least one decentral recycled material identifier. The decentral recycled material identifier and a digital representation of the recycled material data may be provided for access by one or more decentral network node(s) associated with producer(s) processing the recycled material based on the decentral recycled material identifier. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the recycled material data. The recycled material data may be stored in a database accessible by the data owner. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner of the recycled material data, such as the chemical product producer and / or the article producer, based on the decentral identifier.

[0187] In an embodiment the input material composition data relates to a chemical composition specifying the chemical compound(s) contained in the input material. The chemical compound(s) may include monomer(s), monomer type(s), polymer(s), polymer type(s), additive(s), additive type(s), pigment(s), pigment type(s), substance(s) and / or substance type(s) negatively impeding the processing of the input material and / or substance(s) and / or substance type(s) negatively impeding the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof produced from the input material. By providing details on the material composition of the input material the production of new products using such input material can be enhanced through access of such material composition data via the decentral network. This way, the quality of the plastic product can be enhanced based on the material composition data accessed via the decentral network, ensuring that the plastic products, such as plastic toys plastic toy parts, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, fulfil target properties without negatively impeding the quality of such plastic products due to the use of the recycled material during production of such products.

[0188] In another embodiment, the recycled material is obtained by recycling plastic waste fraction(s) containing waste plastic toy(s), waste plastic toy part(s), waste plastic shoe part(s) and / or waste plastic furniture 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0189] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0190] 27 part(s). The waste plastic toy(s), waste plastic toy part(s), waste plastic shoe part(s) and / or waste plastic furniture part(s)may be associated with one or more origin(s). The origin(s) may relate to the producer(s) producing the plastic toy(s), the plastic shoes parts and / or the plastic furniture parts. The plastic waste fraction(s) may consist of the waste plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof. The waste plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof may include at least one thermoplastic elastomer. The plastic waste fraction(s) may consist of waste plastic shoe part(s). The waste plastic shoe part(s) may include at least one foam. The plastic fraction(s) may consist of waste plastic furniture part(s). The waste plastic furniture part(s) may include at least one foam.

[0191] In another embodiment the input material history data relates to a use, an application and / or an origin of the input material. By providing origin, use and / or application data for production of plastic products, closed material loops e.g. for specific origins, applications and / or uses can be enabled through more tailored production of such products.

[0192] In another embodiment the target property data includes target chemical property / ies of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, target physical property / ies of the plastic product (s) and / or the parts thereof and / or target origin(s) and / or uses of the recycled input material. The target property data may include target chemical property / ies of plastic product type(s) and / or types of plastic product part(s), target physical property / ies of plastic product type(s) and / or types of plastic product part(s) and / or target origin(s) and / or uses of the recycled input material. Target chemical properties may include the target material composition of the plastic plastic product or part thereof. Target physical property / ies may include mechanical property / ies such as flexibility, hardness, stiffness, elasticity, durability and / or softness. The target property data may define material(s), such as polymer(s), to be used for production of the plastic plastic product or parts thereof. The target property data may define material(s) and associated amount(s) to be included in the plastic plastic product or parts thereof. In addition, the target property data may define threshold value(s) for contaminant(s) contained within the plastic plastic product or parts thereof. By determining the feed data based on target property data, the stream of recycled material used for producing plastic plastic product and / or parts thereof may be tailored to obtain plastic plastic product and / or parts thereof having the desired property / ies without requiring extensive further treatment steps to achieve the desired property / ies and / or without negatively impairing the desired property / ies due to the presence of compound(s), such as pigment(s) and / or toxic substances, within the recycled material negatively impeding the property / ies of such plastic plastic product and / or parts thereof.

[0193] In another embodiment the feed data is generated by instructions configured to match the input material data to the target property data per plastic plastic product type and / or per plastic plastic product part type. The instructions may be configured to match input material composition to target material composition per plastic plastic product and / or per plastic plastic product type. The instructions may be configured to match input material history data to target origin(s) and / or use(s) of recycled input mater per plastic plastic product and / or per plastic plastic product type. Through matching the input material 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0194] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0195] 28 data accessed via the decentral network to the target property data based on the instructions, product(s) fulfilling a target property / ies may be produced at least in part from recycled input material. This way, the amount of recycled material to produce the product(s) may be improved without negatively impacting the properties of the produced plastic products. This way, loop material flows may be enabled despite strict regulations requiring a low level or absence of contaminants in the plastic products. Increasing the amount of recycled material that can be used to produce new plastic products allows to improve the environmental impact of the plastic product production and hence also the environmental impact of the product ecosystem including the plastic products.

[0196] In another embodiment the feed data is determined by determining mixture data specifying recycled material and further input material(s) to be mixed prior to providing the mixed input material to the plastic product production process. The mixture data is generated based on material composition data of the recycled material and further input materials and the target property data. The mixture data may be generated by determining weighted quantities of input material(s) depending on the input material data per input material and the target property data. By blending input material in a targeted manner based on requirements of plastic product toy(s) and / or parts thereof produced from such input materials, recycled materials can be used more effectively within the plastic product ecosystems while reliably managing the quality constraints the target property / ies impose on feedstocks. In particular, generating the mixture data for blending input material based on target property data specific to the toy production, shoe production or furniture production, allows for reliable, effective and efficient usage of recycled materials as feedstocks to produce new plastic plastic product and / or parts thereof.

[0197] In another embodiment the feed data includes feed data package(s). The feed data packages may include a collection of input material identifiers associated with the input material, optionally a production order identifier associated with a production order of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof and optionally with plastic product identifier(s) associated with the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof to be produced. At least a part of the input material identifier(s) may be associated with recycled input material. The feed data packages may be linked to a production order identifier. The feed data packages may indicate the use of the recycled input material.

[0198] In another embodiment the feed data is provided to the production plant for producing the plastic product(s) and / or the parts thereof. The production plant may be configured to perform one or more production step(s) to produce the plastic product (s) and / or parts thereof. The recycled material may be used as input material within at least one of such production step(s). The input material may be provided to the production step(s) based on the feed data.

[0199] In another embodiment the input material data and / or input material history data associated with the input material is gathered per input material or input material mixture used to produce the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof and aggregated to plastic product data including plastic product composition data 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0200] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0201] 29 and / or plastic product history data. Aggregating the input material data and / or input material history data per input material allows to provide such aggregated data for access via the decentral network to user(s) of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, such as plastic product users, sorters and / or recyclers. This way, the use and / or recycling of the plastic product(s) and / or the parts thereof may be controlled based on the aggregated input material composition data and / or input material history data. A plastic product identifier may be provided and the plastic product data including plastic product composition data and / or plastic product history data may be assigned to the plastic product identifier. The plastic product identifier may include at least one decentral plastic product identifier. A digital representation of the plastic product data including the decentral plastic product identifier may be provided to the decentral network for the decentral plastic product identifier to be discoverable and / or accessible for decentral network nodes of the decentral network. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the plastic product data or parts thereof. The plastic product data may be stored in a database associated with the data owner for access by data consumers. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner of the plastic product data, such as the plastic product producer, based on the decentral plastic product identifier.

[0202] In another embodiment the method for controlling production of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof further includes a step of determining property data associated with chemical and / or physical property / ies of the recycled material, wherein the feed data is generated based on the provided input material data, the determined property data and the provided target property data. The property data may include at least one measured chemical and / or physical property of the recycled material data and / or at least one chemical and / or physical property of the recycled material determined from measured data. Additional use of property data may allow to enrich the recycled material data accessed via the decentral network, enabling a more accurate feed data generation. This way, it can be ensured that plastic products and / or parts thereof fulfil strict specifications for plastic products, such as children plastic toys, with respect to their properties despite the use of recycled material for producing such plastic products or parts thereof.

[0203] In an embodiment the production data includes feed data associated with the feed of input material(s) used to produce the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof. The feed data may include a collection of input material identifier(s) and associated amount(s) and toy identifier(s) associated with the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof. The feed data may be determined as previously described based on input material data associated with input material used to produce the plastic product and / or the part thereof and target property data associated with at least one target property of the plastic product and / or the part thereof. The feed data may include recycled material identifier(s) and associated amount(s) of recycled material, a production order identifier and a plastic product identifier(s) associated with the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof to be produced based on the feed data. The feed data may further include identifiers of further input materials used to produce the plastic product and / or parts thereof and associated amount(s) of such further input materials. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0204] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0205] 30

[0206] In an embodiment the recycled content data is determined by determining the fraction of recycled content used to produce the plastic product and / or the part thereof with respect to the total amount or weight of produced plastic product and / or the part thereof. The recycled content may be determined based on the amount of recycled material and optionally further input material(s) used to produce the plastic product(s) and / or the parts thereof. The fraction of the recycled content may be determined from the sum of the amount of recycled material and the amount of recycled material contained within the further input materials. The amount of recycled material contained within the further input materials may be determined from the recycled content data included in data associated with such further input materials. The recycled content data may be determined by aggregating the recycled material data with recycled content data included in input material data associated with the further input materials based on the amount(s) of recycled material and further input material(s) used to produce the plastic product and / or the part thereof.

[0207] In another embodiment the recycled content data relates to a total recycled content included in the plastic product and / or part thereof. Recycled content data may include data indicating the total recycled content included in the produced plastic product. In another embodiment the recycled content data relates to a recycled content from waste plastic toys and / or parts thereof, recycled content from plastic waste article(s) not being toys and / or parts thereof or a combination thereof. Recycled content data may include data indicating the recycled content derived from waste plastic toys and / or parts thereof and / or the recycled content derived from plastic waste article(s) not being toys and / or parts thereof. In another embodiment the recycled content data relates to a recycled content from waste shoe parts, recycled content from plastic waste article(s) not being shoe parts or a combination thereof. Recycled content data may include data indicating the recycled content derived from waste shoe parts and / or the recycled content derived from plastic waste article(s) not being plastic shoe parts. In another embodiment the recycled content data relates to a recycled content from waste furniture parts, recycled content from plastic waste article(s) not being furniture parts or a combination thereof. Recycled content data may include data indicating the recycled content derived from waste furniture parts and / or the recycled content derived from plastic waste article(s) not being waste furniture parts. ,

[0208] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0209] In the following, the present disclosure is further described with reference to the enclosed figures. The same reference numbers in the drawings and this disclosure are intended to refer to the same or like elements, components, and / or parts. The description of drawings is provided for illustrative purposes and shall not be considered limiting. The embodiments and examples are illustrative embodiments and examples to further line out the concepts lined out herein. The figures include schematic illustrations and shall not be considered limiting. Other embodiments and examples that fall under the concepts lined out herein are possible and may not be explicitly described herein. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0210] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0211] 31

[0212] FIG. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a circular material loop including material participants connected through a decentral network with decentral network nodes associated with material participants.

[0213] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a sensor-based sorting system for sorting plastics waste including sensors and separation mechanisms.

[0214] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of waste fraction separation by the sensor-based sorting system.

[0215] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a waste sorting system including a decentral network interface.

[0216] FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a method and associated systems for providing material composition data and / or article history data by way of a decentral network.

[0217] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of waste stream separation by a sorting system including a decentral network interface.

[0218] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of an example sorting method which may be implemented in the sorting system including the decentral network interface.

[0219] FIG. 8A to FIG. 8C illustrate example data structures used for a sorting method based on material composition data and / or article history data accessible by way of a decentral network interface.

[0220] FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a pre-defined classification configured to separate plastic articles by material composition, article history and recycling process.

[0221] FIG. 10 illustrates a system and associated methods for controlling recycling of sorted plastic waste fraction(s) by way of a decentral network interface.

[0222] FIG. 11 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for controlling recycling of sorted plastic waste fraction(s) based on fraction data accessible by way of a decentral network interface.

[0223] FIG. 12 illustrates a system and associated methods for controlling production of plastic product(s) at least in part from recycled input material.

[0224] FIG. 13 illustrates example data structures used for producing new plastic products and / or parts thereof at least in part from recycled material based on recycled material data accessible by way of a decentral network interface.

[0225] FIG. 14 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for controlling production of plastic product(s) at least in part from recycled input material. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0226] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0227] 32

[0228] FIG. 15 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for monitoring the environmental impact of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof produced at least in part from recycled material.

[0229] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0230] FIG. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a participant network 130 including material participants 102 to 114 connected through a decentral network 134 with decentral network nodes 120 to 128 associated with the material participants 102 to 112.

[0231] The participant network shown in FIG. 1 may be a material chain network. The material chain network may include one or more linear material chain(s). The linear material chain(s) may include a material supply chain, in which an output product is produced by a chemical product producer 104 and such output product is used to produce an end-product, such as plastic toy(s), by plastic toy producer 106. The linear material chain(s) may include a material recycling chain, in which the produced plastic toy(s) are collected, sorted and recycled at recycled material 114 and the recycled material 114 is used to produce new output product by chemical product producer 104. The material chain may include one or more supply and / or recycling chain(s). The material chain may include one or more connected supply and / or recycling chain(s). One or more linear material chain(s) may be connected to the participant network 130.

[0232] The material chain network may include a material loop network 130 including the use of recycled material(s) to produce new materials. One or more material loop(s) 130 may allow to use recycled materials resulting from recycling of end-of-life plastic toy(s) to produce new products, such as chemical products or plastic toy(s), associated with one or more material chain(s). The material chain network, preferably the material loop 130, may include the production, use and / or recycling of physical materials and output products.

[0233] The material or output product may be a chemical compound, a chemical ingredient, a chemical molecule, a chemical composition, a chemical mixture, a chemical formulation, an intermediate chemical product, or a chemical base material that may be used to produce discrete products, a component, a component assembly, an end product, an end-of-life product, a product to be recycled, or a recycled material. Material or output product flows may include non-discrete material flows that may be further processed to produce discrete products or components. Material or output product flows may include discrete material flows. Discrete material flows may include liquids, pellets, beats, powders or the like. The recycled material may refer to a mechanically or chemically recycled material. Recycled material flows may include non-discrete material flows that may be further processed to produce new materials or chemical products. Recycled material flows may include liquids, pellets, beats, powders or the like.

[0234] End product may refer to a product that is the result of a material supply chain. End product may refer to a product that is used by the end product user, such as plastic toy user 108. End-of-life (EOL) product may refer to a product that has been used by end product user. End-of-life product may refer to a product 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0235] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0236] 33 that does no longer fulfil the requirements for its use. End-of-life product may refer to a product that is no longer required. End-of-life products may be products disposed in waste, such as plastic toy waste. A recycled material may refer to any material that has been produced using end-of-life product(s). A recycled material may refer to a new material that has been produced using end-of-life product(s).

[0237] The participant network 130 illustrated in FIG. 1 may include multiple participants 102 to 112 forming the participant network 130. The participant network 130 may include all stages of the material from production of the material via use of the material to re-use of the material. The material may hence flow in a closed loop from production of constituents, the end product via use to re-use. Re-use may include re-purposing of the end-of-life product, re-furbishing of the end-of-life product and / or recycling of the end- of-life product to refeed recycled material 114 into material production.

[0238] The participant(s) 102 to 112 of the participant network may be associated with the production of any material or product and / or recycling of any material or product. The participant(s) of the material loop 130 may include a chemical product producer, a chemical product user, an end-product producer (OEM), an end-product user, an EOL collector / sorter, a recycler and combinations thereof. The participant(s) may include further participant(s) of the material chain or loop not shown in FIG. 1 .

[0239] The participant(s) 104 to 112 of the participant network 130 may be connected through material flow(s) 138. The material flow 138 may correspond to the flow of output product from one participant of the material loop to the downstream participant of the material loop 130. The material flow 138 may refer to a continuous or a discontinuous flow of output product. The flow of output product or material may include any means of transportation suitable to transport the output product or material from one participant to another downstream participant. The means of transportation may include pipes, containers, barrels, packages or the like. The material flow 138 may be a one-sided flow. The material flow 138 may flow from the upstream participant to the downstream participant of the participant network, such as the material flow from the plastic recycler 112 to the chemical product producer 104 or plastic toy producer 106. The material flow may include reverse material flows from a downstream participant to an upstream participant of the material loop 130. For example, material may flow from the chemical product producer 104 to the plastic recycler 112, e.g. when the recycled material does not adhere to quality specifications and needs further treatment.

[0240] The participant(s) 102 to 112 of the participant network 130 may be connected through material flow(s) 136. The material flow 136 may be associated with raw materials used to produce the material or output product, such as virgin raw material(s). Virgin raw material may be unused raw material that has not been subjected to any processing other than for its production. Instead of virgin raw material(s) the material flow 138 may include recycled material(s). Recycled material(s) may be made from waste material that can be recycled. The raw and recycled materials may be provided to the chemical product producer 104 for producing chemical product(s) and / or intermediate chemical product(s) (not shown). 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0241] 34

[0242] The participant network 130 illustrated in FIG. 1 is based on the example of plastic toys and their circular loop. Plastic toys may include toys comprising part(s) produced from organic polymers such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyurethanes (PU) and thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) or the like. Thermoplastic elastomers may include styrene block copolymers, such as Styrene- Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) and Styrene-Ethylene-Butylene-Styrene (SEBS), thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), copolyester elastomers (COPE) produced by copolymerizing polyester(s) with diol(s) and / or thermoplastic olefins (TPO).

[0243] The material participants may include chemical product producer 104, plastic toy producer 106, plastic toy user 108 such as the consumer, the EOL collector / sorter 110 and the plastic recycler 112.

[0244] The organic polymers may be produced by the chemical product producer 104. The organic polymers may be provided to a polymer user, plastic toy producer 106. The organic polymers may be compounded, molded and / or converted to produce plastic toys. The plastic toys may contain one or more organic polymer(s). The plastic toys may contain part(s) containing one or more organic polymer(s). The plastic toy(s) may be polymer-containing products or articles. The plastic toys may be provided to plastic toy user 108, such as retailers and / or consumers. The polymer-containing products or articles may be used by the plastic toy user 108. At the end-of-life the polymer-containing products or articles may be disposed by the plastic toy user 108. The disposed polymer-containing products or articles may be provided to the EOL collector / sorter 110. The disposed polymer-containing products or articles may be collected in a plastic waste stream. The plastic waste stream may be sorted. The plastic waste stream may be provided to a sorter for sorting the plastic waste stream into fractions of polymer-containing products or articles to be recycled. The sorted fractions of polymer-containing products or articles may be provided to plastic recycler 112 for recycling the fractions of polymer-containing products or articles. The recycled material may be provided to the chemical product producer 104 for producing new monomers and / or polymers and / or to plastic toy producer 106 for producing new plastic toys thus closing the material loop 130. The recycled material obtained per sorted fraction may be provided as recycled material fraction to chemical product producer 104 and / or plastic toy producer 106. The material flow 138 may close the loop between the material participants.

[0245] In addition to the connection through material flows 138, 136 the material participants 102 to 112 may be connected through data flows 132 via the decentral network 134. The decentral network 134 may include one or more decentral network nodes 118 to 128 associated with material participants 102 to 112. In a decentralized or decentral network 134, the decentral network nodes 118 to 128, in contrast to a centralized network, do not exclusively rely on a central network node. In other words, no single entity is the sole authority of the network. The decentral network 134 may include decentral and central network nodes. The decentral network 134 may include central network nodes that may control and / or monitor the decentral network nodes 118 to 128. For example, central network node(s) may provide authentication 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0246] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0247] 35 information, which allows at least two decentral network nodes to establish a peer-to-peer communication channel between respective decentral network nodes.

[0248] The network nodes 118 to 128 may be computing nodes. The computing node may be any device or system that includes at least one physical and tangible processor, and a physical and tangible memory capable of having thereon computer-executable instructions that are executed by a processor. Computing nodes are now increasingly taking a wide variety of forms. Computing nodes may, for example, be handheld devices, monitoring systems, control systems, laptop computers, desktop computers, mainframes and / or data centers. The memory may take any form and depends on the nature and form of the computing node. The decentral network nodes 118 to 128 may be connected via a wired and / or wireless connection such as one of Ethernet, USB, LAN, WLAN and the like. Wireless communication may use, for example, WLAN, Wi-Fi, cellular, and / or Bluetooth. The decentral network nodes 118 to 128 may be configured to perform peer-to-peer data transactions, illustrated by the arrows 132 indicating data flow.

[0249] The decentral network nodes 118 to 1286 may be configured as data consuming and / or providing network nodes. The decentral network nodes 118 to 128 may be configured to provide data to other network node(s) of the decentral network 134 and / or to consume data from other nodes of the decentral network 134. For instance, the decentral network node 120 associated with the chemical product producer 104 or the decentral network node 122 associated with the plastic toy producer 106 may be configured to provide chemical product data or toy data to downstream participants such as the EOL collector / sorter 110 or the plastic recycler 112. Further for instance, the decentral network node 126, 128 associated with the EOL collector / sorter 110 or the plastic recycler 112 may be configured to access data from the network node 118 to 124 associated with upstream participants such as chemical product producer 104 or the plastic toy producer 106.

[0250] The decentral network node(s) 118 to 128 may comprise computer-executable instructions configured to provide, consume and / or process data, such as data associated with the monomer, polymer, polymer- containing product or article produced or processed within the circular loop 130. The network node(s) may run a data providing service configured to provide data to another decentral network node of the decentral network 134. The decentral network node(s) 118 to 128 configured to provide data may be associated with a data owner or a data generating node associated with a material or output product produced or processed within the circular loop 130. The decentral network node(s) 118 to 128 may be connected to one or more dedicated data storage(s) storing the data associated with material or output product produced or processed in the participant network 130 (see for example FIG. 5). The dedicated data storage(s) may be under control of the data owner or data generating node associated with the material or output product produced or processed in the participant network 130. The data owner may be the respective participant of the decentral network 134, the data generating node is associated with. The data generating node may have access to the dedicated data storage(s). Access to data associated with 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0251] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0252] 36 material or output product produced or processed within the participant network 130 may hence be under control of the data owner the respective decentral network node is associated with (see also FIG. 5). This allows to retain full control over data associated with material or output product produced or processed within the participant network 130 by the data owner. At the same time this enables sharing of data associated with material or output product produced or processed within the participant network 130 under controlled conditions, for example by using appropriate protocols including authorization and authentication mechanisms or schemes to establish peer-to-peer communication, for example as described in the context of FIG. 5.

[0253] The decentral network node 118 to 128 configured to consume data may comprise computer-executable instructions for accessing and / or processing data within the decentral network 134, such as data associated with material or output products produced or processed within the participant network 130 and provided by a decentral data providing network node. The decentral data consuming network node may be controlled or owned by or associated with any upstream or downstream participant of the participant network. For instance, the decentral data consuming network node 122 may be associated with plastic toy producer 106 to allow access to polymer data associated with the polymer supplied by chemical product producer 104 through the decentral data providing network node 120 associated with the chemical product producer 104.

[0254] The decentral network 134 may include further decentral network nodes. The further decentral network nodes may not be associated with further participants of the participant network 130. The further nodes may be decentral infrastructure service nodes (not shown in FIG. 1). The decentral infrastructure service nodes may provide services for decentral participant nodes 118 to 128, such as verifying the identity of the decentral network participant nodes 118 to 128 prior to performing a data ex-change. The decentral network participant node(s) 118 to 128 may be associated with or include certificate(s), such as X.509 certificate(s). The certificate(s) may be associated with an identity manager including e.g. a certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service providing dynamic attribute tokens (e.g. OAuth Access Tokens). This way the decentral network node(s) 118 to 128 may be associated or connected to a unique identifier embedded in a X.509 certificate that identifies the respective decentral network node(s) 118 to 128. The information required to verify the certificate may be provided via an authentication registry associated with the certificate issuing service and / or a dynamic provisioning service. For instance, in the IDSA Reference Architecture Model, Version 3.0 of April 2019, a decentral data providing network node associated with the data owner, a Certification Authority (CA), a Dynamic Attribute Provisioning Service (DAPS) and a decentral data consuming network node associated with the data consumer are used to verify the identity prior to performing a data exchange (not shown).

[0255] The material or output product produced by participant(s) 102 to 112 of the participant network 130 may be associated with material or output product data associated with properties of the material or output product produced by participant(s) 102 to 112 of the participant network 130. The material or output 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0256] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0257] 37 product data may be provided for access by the decentral data providing network node 118 to 128 associated with the material or output product producer. Access to the material or output product data may be controlled by the decentral data providing network node. The material or output product data may be accessed by decentral data consuming network node(s) associated with further participants of the participant network 130, such as any downstream participant.

[0258] The data flow 132 between decentral network nodes 118 to 128 may be directly or indirectly associated with the material flow 136, 138 between the participants 102 to 112 of the participant network 130. For instance, the data flow 132 may be directly associated with the material flow 136, 138, if data associated with a polymer provided from the chemical product producer 104 to the plastic toy producer 106 is accessed by a decentral data consuming network node 122 associated with said plastic toy producer 106. For instance, the data flow 132 may be indirectly associated with the material flow 136, 138, if data associated with a polymer produced by chemical product producer 104 is accessed by a decentral data consuming network node 128 associated with the plastic recycler 112.

[0259] Data transactions between decentral network nodes 118 to 128 may be based on a decentral identifier associated with the material or output product data to be accessed. The decentral identifier may be associated with the physical entity of the material or output product. The decentral identifier may be uniquely associated with the physical entity of the material or output product. The decentral identifier may uniquely identify the material or output product within the decentral network 134. The decentral identifier may be associated with further decentral identifier(s), such as decentral identifier(s) of material(s) or output product(s) used to produce the end product. This may allow to track the material(s) or output product(s) used to produce a product, such as an end-product. The decentral identifier may be included in a digital passport associated with the material or output product as is described in more detail in the context of FIG. 5.

[0260] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a sensor-based sorting system for sorting plastic waste including sensors 204, 208 and separation mechanisms 206 associated with the sensors 204, 208.

[0261] The sorting system may be any type of sorting system suitable to sort plastic waste 210. The plastic waste may include plastic toy waste, plastic shoe part waste and / or plastic furniture part waste. Plastic shoe parts may include foam shoe parts. Plastic furniture parts may include foam furniture parts. One example with a conveyor belt 202, a sensor system 204, 208 and separation mechanism 206 is illustrated in FIG. 2. Other sorting systems may include density-based sorting processes such as centrifugal or float sink processes. The sorting systems in general may conduct any staged sorting.

[0262] The conveyor belt 202 may carry the plastic waste 210 to pass a first separator that positions the plastic waste articles 210 on the conveyor belt 202 (not shown). The conveyor belt 202 may carry the individualizes articles 210 to the first sensor system 204 such as a camera. The sensor system 204 may 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0263] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0264] 38 include one or more sensors configured to detect one or more properties of the plastic waste articles 210. The conveyor belt 202 may further carry the plastic waste articles 210 to pass a second separator 206 that separates the waste articles 210 in different waste fractions 212a to 212d. The separation may be based on sensor data collected by the first sensor system 204. For example, a camera sensor and an associated processing unit may be configured to determine shape, color and / or size (not shown). Depending on the detected shape, color and / or size, the separators 206 may separate respective articles 210 into different fractions 212a to 212d.

[0265] The conveyor belt 202 may carry the fractionized articles 210 to the second sensor system 208 such as a spectrophotometric system, e.g. UV / VIS (ultraviolet / visible), NIR (near infra-red), or laser / optical sensor system. The second sensor system 208 may include one or more sensors configured to detect one or more properties of the plastics waste articles 210.

[0266] The conveyor belt 202 may carry the plastics waste to a third separator 206 that further separates the waste articles 210 in different waste fractions 212a to 212d. The separation may be based on sensor data collected by the second sensor system 208. For example, a NIR sensor and associated processing unit may be configured to determine material composition of the articles 210 (not shown). Through multiple sensor systems 204, 208 and associated separators 206, the sorting depth can be increased to separate by article shape, color, size and / or material composition.

[0267] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of waste fraction separation by the sensor-based sorting system with multiple sensor systems 204, 208 illustrated in FIG. 2. This is only an example based on the sorting system illustrated in FIG. 2. Other sorting mechanisms such as density-based mechanisms may include a similarly stage sorting process. The waste fractions resulting from such sorting may differ from the one illustrated as an example in FIG. 3.

[0268] As shown in the example of FIG. 2, mixed plastic waste may be sorted by way of the sensor-based 204, 208 sorting system. FIG. 3 illustrates the camera-based sorting into fractions such as light and heavy fraction. The heavy fraction may be further sorted by way of NIR-based sorting 208 into a waste fraction for incineration and articles containing thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), high density polyethylene (HDPE), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) may be separated. The PET fraction may be further separated through camera-based 204 sorting by color. Similarly, the light fraction may be further sorted (not shown).

[0269] The multi-sensor systems, as for example illustrated in FIG. 2, required to reach the sorting depth for the waste fractions to be further processed are complicated, costly and are limited with regards to the quality of the waste fractions required for re-use. More enhanced plastics waste sorting is thought to overcome such shortage and quality problems. Plastics waste is, however, a challenging waste to be separated into fractions for re-use. For example, plastics blends or multilayer materials may be less suitable for some 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0270] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0271] 39 recycling processes than pure plastics. Further for example, the fraction’s composition may critically influence the quality and / or the yield of recycled material, such as polymer pellets, that can be extracted from the waste fraction. Such polymer pellets may be produced through mechanical recycling of waste fractions. However, the quality of the polymer pellets depends on the waste fraction composition. For example, contaminates influence the quality despite manual collection schemes and reduce the quality of polymer pellets. Moreover, recycled polymer to be used in the toy industry must fulfil strict specifications to avoid a negative influence on the health of the consumers which may be caused by contaminants or insufficient mechanical properties.

[0272] Said differently, for plastic waste such as packaging collected through mixed collection, sorting can be disrupted due to excessive contamination or additional sorting steps can be required, while the value of recycled material is automatically lowered and therefore the range of applications the recycled material could be used for is limited. Creating more intelligent sorting schemes to separate streams for mainstream plastic types (TPE, PE, PP, PVC, ABS, PET, and PU) with fluctuating waste composition will lower contamination levels, increase the efficiency of sorting and increase the quantity and quality of recycled material. This way, recycled material may be used to produce new plastic toys since it can be ensured that the recycled material has sufficient quality to fulfil the strict regulation(s) applicable to such plastic toys with respect to contaminants and mechanical properties.

[0273] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a waste sorting system including a decentral network interface 416.

[0274] The sorting system 402 may include a conveyor belt 404 and an optical measurement system optical measurement system 406 configured to read identifier elements 408 such as codes, e.g. QR codes or RF ID tags, attached to the plastic waste articles 210. The sorting system 402 may further include an interface 416 to a decentral network node 126 associated via fraction controller 414 with the sorting system 402. The decentral network node 126 may be connected to a decentral network 134 as for example illustrated and described in the context of FIG. 1. The sorting system 402 may be operated by a participant of a participant network involving the production and recycling of plastic toys, such as described int he context of FIG. 1 . The sorting system 402 may be operated by EOL collector / sorter 110.

[0275] The sorting system 402 may detect the identifier element 408 of the plastic waste articles 210. The plastic waste articles may include plastic waste toys, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts. Based on the detection, a decentral identifier associated with the waste article 210 may be provided either directly from the optical measurement system optical measurement system 406 or by gathering the decentral identifier from the decentral network 134. The decentral identifier may comprise any unique identifier uniquely associated with the article data and optionally the data owner of the article data. The decentral identifier may connect the physical entity of the article to the article data. The decentral identifier may include one or more Universally Unique Identifier(s) (UUID(s)) and / or one or more Decentralized Identifier(s) (DID(s)). The one or more DID(s) and / or UUID(s) may further be associated with the 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0276] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0277] 40 article. The decentral identifier may further include or be associated with an article identifier associated with the article . The decentral identifier may be issued by a central or decentral identity issuer. The decentral identifier may be generated by the data owner or on behalf of the data owner of the article data. The decentral material identifier may include authentication information. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the article data associated with the article and optionally the data owner of the article data, access to the article data may be controlled by the data owner of the article data. The data owner of the article data may be the article producer, such as plastic toy producer 106. This contrasts with central authority schemes, where identifiers are provided by such central authority and access to data is controlled by such central authority. The decentral identifier may be a digital or virtual identifier, e.g. may not correspond to physical identifier(s) physically attached to the article. The decentral identifier may be discoverable and / or accessible for decentral network nodes of the decentral network.

[0278] Based on the decentral identifier, property data associated with the waste article 210 may be gathered from decentral network nodes 118 to 124 of the decentral network 134. Fraction controller 414 may be configured to gather decentral identifier(s) and / or property data associated with the waste article 210 from the decentral network 134 based on the detection of the optical measurement system optical measurement system 406, for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. The property data of the waste article 210 may include material composition data associated with the material composition of the article and / or article history data. For example, the material composition data may relate to the chemical compounds used to manufacture the article, the chemical compounds contained in the article, the recycled content of the article, the bio-based content of the article, the renewable content of the article, the biodegradability of the article and / or the emission data of the article. Further for example, the article history data may relate to the number of cycles the polymer contained in the article was used and recycled. This may be particularly relevant for recycling streams, where the material degrades after a certain number of recycling loops. Examples are closed loop recycling schemes like PET bottles, where the material is not usable for further recycling after about ten loops. Further for example, the article history data may relate to the application of the polymer and / or the article type. The article history data may specify the application the polymer was used in toys, shoe parts or furniture parts. The article history data may specify the product type the polymer was used for in the current cycle and / or prior cycles. This may be particularly relevant for polymer and recycled materials that are used in food industry, in the toy industry, in the shoe industry or in the furniture industry. The article history data may specify origin, application, or use of the polymers. This may include origin such as specific product manufacturers, locations or regions. This may include application types such as bottle, medical packaging, toys, shoes, furniture or the like. This may include uses in food industry, toy industry, shoe industry or furniture industry only. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0279] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0280] 41

[0281] By accessing the digital material twins of the waste articles 210 via the decentral identifier, the material composition data and / or article history may be retrieved from the decentral network node(s) 118 to 124 associated with the participant 102 to 108 owning or providing such data.

[0282] Based on such data retrieved via the decentral network 134, the separator 410 may separate waste articles 210 according to properties of the waste articles 210 such as material composition and / or article history. Based on the decentral identifier and the sorting logic (described in more detail in FIG. 6. and FIG. 7) a control signal for the separator 410 may be generated to sort the respective waste articles 210 to a dedicated waste fraction 412a, 412b. This allows for simple sorting of waste articles 210 by accessing data through the decentral network 134. As a result, the data available through the decentral network 134 enhances the sorting depths without the need for further sensor system 204, 208 and multi-layer sorting machinery 206. The proposed simple data-driven sorting system 402 may be used as extension or in combination with sensor-based sorting systems, such as the one illustrated in FIG. 2. This way plastics articles 210 where the identifier element 408 is not accessible or detectable may be sorted by sensor-based systems, while plastic articles 210 with accessible or detectable identifier element 408 may be sorted with higher sorting depth.

[0283] In addition, to the enhanced sorting depth through the data availability by way of the decentral network 134, the tracking and tracing of the material composition of sorted waste fractions 412a, 412b can be enhanced. For example, the decentral identifiers associated with waste articles 210 gathered by the sorting system 402 may be stored according to the sorting fraction 412a, 412b. The decentral identifier associated with the waste article 210 may be assigned to a fraction ID associated with the respective waste fraction 412a, 412b the waste article 210 is sorted to (see for example FIG. 8A to FIG. 8C). This way the property data of the respective waste article 210 accessed by way of the decentral identifier can be stored in connection with the waste fraction ID. Once the batch of the waste fraction 412a, 412b is completed, the gathered property data may be aggregated to fraction data via the decentral identifiers associated with such fraction. Such aggregation may be executed on controlling the sorting. For example, the composition data per decentral identifier may be aggregated by composition compounds or constituents contained in the waste fraction 412a, 412b and their respective quantities, such as amounts. Further for example, the article history per decentral identifier may be aggregated to signify the origin, application, or use of the materials. This may include uses in food industry, toy industry, shoe industry or furniture industry only, application types such as bottle, medical packaging, toy, shoe, furniture or the like and / or specific locations, regions and / or product manufacturer(s). The fraction ID and the fraction data may be provided to the decentral network 134 for access by decentral network nodes associated with other participants of the decentral network 134 (see FIG. 1).

[0284] FIG. 5 illustrates schematically an example of a system for providing material composition data and / or article history data by way of a decentral network. The system shown in FIG. 5 may be used to exchange property data, such as material composition data and / or article history data, within a participant network, 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0285] 42 such as the participant network described in the context of FIG. 1 . The property data may be associated with an article. The article may be an end-of-life article. The article may be a polymer-containing toy, a polymer containing shoe part or a polymer containing furniture part. The article may be a polymer containing end-of-life toy, a polymer containing end-of-life shoe part or a polymer containing end-of-life furniture part. The article may be a plastic waste article.

[0286] For exchanging property data within the participant network illustrated for example in FIG. 1 , digital article passports associated with the produced article may be generated. The article passport may be a digital representation of a physical entity of the produced article with defined semantic description(s) of said physical entity of the produced article. The article passport of the physical entity of the produced article is hence a digital version of said physical entity. The article passport may be uniquely linked to the physical produced article via an identifier.

[0287] The article passport of the produced article may include a decentral identifier and article data. The article data may include property data. The property data may include material composition data and / or article history data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4. The article data may further include article identifier(s) and / or article producer data. The article data may contain one or more article data set(s) (also denoted as assets hereinafter). The article data set(s) may include the property data or a part thereof. For example, the material composition data may be included in a first article data set while the article history data may be included in a second data set. Likewise, the further data may be included in a third data set.

[0288] The article passport may be generated by the data owner of the article data, such plastic toy producer 106. The article passport may be generated on behalf of the data owner of the article data. The article passport may be generated by gathering data associated with the article, applying one or more data models to the gathered data to generate the article data and linking the generated article data to the decentral identifier to generate the digital twin. Via the decentral identifier and its unique association with the article passport (and hence with the article and article data) and optionally the data owner, access to the article passport or parts thereof generated from said data may be controlled by the data owner. The decentral material identifier may include or be associated with one or more identifier(s) used in the decentral network and allowing for data exchange via the decentral network. For instance, the decentral identifier may include or be associated with data set identifier(s) of data sets included in the article data, such as UUID(s) of data set(s). Any combination of UUID(s) and DID(s) may be possible. For instance, the decentral identifier may be a DID while the data set identifier(s) may be UUID(s). In another instance, the decentral identifier, and the data set identifier(s) may be UUlDs. Data exchange may include discovery of and / or access to the decentral identifier and optionally identifier(s) associated with said decentral identifier for participant nodes of the decentral network, authentication of participant nodes of the decentral network and / or authorization of data transfers via a peer-to-peer communication between participant nodes of the decentral network. The article passport may be stored in a database (DB 506) 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0289] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0290] 43 associated with the data owner, such as the article producer. The article passport may be stored in a database for access by data consumers. The database may be associated with the decentral data providing node 122 of the data owner. The database may be associated with the data owner of the digital twin. The database may be accessible by the data owner of the digital twin. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner of the digital article passport, for example via the decentral identifier.

[0291] The decentral identifier may be linked to other decentral identifier(s) according to a physical relation of the article entity with other physical entities e.g. those used to produce the article or those produced from the article. This way decentral participant node(s) of the decentral network may be able to interpret the relation of the decentral identifier corresponding to the physical relation of the physical article entity to other physical entities. The linking of the decentral identifier with other decentral product identifier(s) allows to determine the decentral participant node(s) storing the data associated with materials used to produce the article.

[0292] The decentral identifier may be associated with or linked to a digital representation of the article data or parts thereof. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the article data. The digital representation may further include the decentral identifier. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the material composition data and / or the article history data. The representation may point to the decentral data providing node associated with the database storing the article passport. The representation pointing to the decentral data providing node may include an endpoint for data exchange or sharing (resource endpoint) or an endpoint for service interaction (service endpoint), that is uniquely identified via a communication protocol. The representation may be regarded as locator directly or indirectly indicating the location or dedicated data storage(s) where the article passport or parts thereof is / are stored. The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network for the decentral identifier to be discoverable and / or accessible by the decentral network nodes. The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network by storing such digital representation in a decentral registry accessible for at least a part of the decentral network nodes, such as decentral registry 502. The decentral registry node may store digital representations of article data. Access to the decentral registry 502 may be controlled by the data owner of the article data. Access to the decentral registry 502 may be controlled via decentral data providing node 122. Access to the decentral registry 502 may be controlled based on decentral participant identifiers associated with decentral data consuming nodes associated with data consumers. This way, data consuming node(s) requesting access to decentral registry 502 may be filtered.

[0293] The decentral identifier may be assigned to a physical identifier connected to the article 210. The connection of the physical identifier with the article 210 may be provided by means of physical connection to the physical article 210 or physical entity. For instance, the physical identifier may be connected with the physical entity of the article 210. The physical identifier may have one-to-one correspondence to a virtual identity or to a physical identity by means of a physical connection to the physical entity. The 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0294] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0295] 44 physical identifier may be physically attached to the article 210 via an identifier element. Physical identifier or physical identifier element may refer to any virtual or physical arrangement that associates the decentral identifier with the article 210. The physical identifier may be any identifier for the produced article 210, such as a batch number or a part number. The physical identifier element may comprise a passive or active element, e.g. QR-code, RFID-tag, but is not limited thereto. The physical identifier element may be a physical identifier physically connected to the material. The identifier element may include markers embedded in the material, a bar code, a QR-Code, a tag like a RFID tag or similar physical arrangement that allows to digitally identify the material.

[0296] The article 210 may be produced by a production. The production may be a product production producing plastic products or parts thereof. Plastic products may include plastic toys or parts thereof, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts. The plastic products or parts thereof may comprise one or more polymers. The plastic product parts may comprise part(s) comprising one or more polymers. The polymers may include polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyurethanes (PU), thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), ethylene vinyl acetates (EVA), natural rubbers, polycarbonate, polyoxymethylene, polymethyl (meth)acrylates, polyamides or mixtures thereof. Thermoplastic elastomers may include styrene block copolymers, such as Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) and Styrene-Ethylene-Butylene-Styrene (SEBS), thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), copolyester elastomers (COPE) produced by copolymerizing polyester(s) with diol(s) and / or thermoplastic olefins (TPO). The polymers may include polymer foams. The polymer foams may be selected from polyurethane foams, polyethylene foams, viscoelastic polyurethane foams, polyisoprene foams, styrene butadiene rubber foams, expanded thermoplastic polyurethane particle foams, polycarbonate foams, polystyrene foams, polyethylene foams, polypropylene foams, polyoxymethylene foams, polytetrafluoroethylene foams or mixtures thereof. The plastic product may at least in part be produced by injection molding, blow molding, rotational molding, foaming processes and / or thermoforming. The polymer-containing parts of the plastic product may be produced by injection molding, blow molding, rotational molding, foaming processes and / or thermoforming.

[0297] The article 210 may be physically delivered to a user using the article and disposing the article. The article 210 may be physically collected and / or sorted by EOL collector / sorter 110. The article 210 may be connected to a code, such as a bar code or QR-code. The code may encode the article identifier. The EOL collector / sorter 110 of the article 210 may read the QR-code through an optical measurement system 406, such as a QR-code reader. The optical measurement system 406 may be a smartphone running a code reading application, such as a QR code reader app. The code reading application may be configured to determine the article identifier. The code reading application may be configured to display the data, such as the identifier(s). The code reading application may be configured to provide the data, such as the article identifiers, to fraction controller 414. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0298] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0299] 45

[0300] Fraction controller 414 may be connected to a decentral data consuming network node being part of a decentral network 134, such as node 126. Node 126 may be associated with EOL collector / sorter 110 sorting waste articles. EOL collector / sorter 110 may operate the sorting system 402 described in the context of FIG. 4. Fraction controller 414 may be connected to sorting system 402 as illustrated in FIG. 4. Node 122 may be configured to determine - based on the identifiers received from fraction controller 414 - provider node(s) being associated with entities involved in the production of the article 210, such as node 122 associated with plastic toy producer 106. For instance, node 122 may be configured to query infrastructure node(s) of decentral network 134 (not shown in FIG. 5) using the article identifier to determine decentral participant identifier(s) of data provider(s) associated with the article identifier. The determined decentral participant identifier(s) may then be used by node 122 to query the infrastructure node(s) to determine endpoints of provider node(s), such as node 122, associated with said decentral participant identifier(s).

[0301] Fraction controller 414 may be configured to generate and provide query data to query decentral registries, such as decentral registry 502, associated with the obtained endpoint(s) of the provider node(s), such as node 122 (see step [2] in FIG. 5). The query data may include the article identifier. The query data may include key value pair(s), where at least one value may be the article identifier. The query data may include at least a part of the received end point(s) of provider node(s) and the query data. Consumer node 126 may be configured to query the decentral registries of decentral network 134 based on query data generated by fraction controller 414. The queries may include the query data and a decentral participant identifier associated with the consumer node 126.

[0302] The queries may be authenticated. Such authentication may be based on data related to an authentication mechanism. The authentication mechanism may be based on certificate(s) and / or token(s), for example a device certificate (X.509v3), a TLS connection certificate (X.509v3) and a ‘Dynamic Attribute Token’ (OAuth Access Token), associated with the respective decentral participant nodes, e.g. consumer node 126 and provider node 122. If authentication fails, no query results may be provided by respective data provider(s). The queries may further be authorized. Such authorization may be based on or related to an authorization mechanism. The authorization mechanism may be based on access data defining decentral data consuming network nodes allowed to request data stored in decentral registry 502 associated with such provider node(s), such as node 122, and one or more processing rule(s) associated with the processing of the data stored within the decentral registry 502.

[0303] If authentication and authorization is successful, provider node(s), such as node 122, may be configured to query associated decentral registry(ies), such as decentral registry 502, to determine whether the associated decentral registry includes decentral identifier(s) related to the query data contained in the query from the consumer node 126 (see steps [3], [4] in FIG. 2). Provider node(s) not having determined decentral identifier(s) related to the query data may send a respective response to consumer node 126. Provider node(s) 122 having determined decentral identifier(s) related to the query data may return such 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0304] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0305] 46 decentral identifier(s) to consumer node 126 (see step [5] in FIG. 2). Consumer node 126 may provide such decentral identifier(s) to fraction controller 414.

[0306] In response to receiving decentral identifier(s) from consumer node(s) 126, fraction controller 414 may be configured to generate a request to gather digital representation(s) associated with the decentral identifier(s). The request may include the decentral identifier(s). The request may be provided to consumer node 126. Consumer node 126 may be configured to request respective digital representation(s) from provider node(s) 122 having provided decentral identifier(s) in step [5]) (see step [6] of FIG. 5). Upon receiving the request, provider node(s) 122 may gather digital representation(s) from associated decentral registry 502 based on the decentral identifier(s) contained in the received request. The gathered digital representation(s) may then be provided to consumer node 126. Consumer node 126 may provide the received digital representation(s) to fraction controller 414.

[0307] Fraction controller 414 may be configured to generate a request to retrieve article data including the property data based on the representation for accessing the article data included in the received digital representation(s). The request may be forwarded to consumer node 126. Consumer node 126 may generate a request to gather the respective article data associated with the decentral identifier from respective provider node(s) 122. The request may be sent by consumer node 126 to the endpoint defined in the representation for accessing the article data. Consumer node 126 and provider node 122 may be authenticating as previously described.

[0308] Provider node 122 may determine whether consumer node 126 is authorized to access the requested article data based on the decentral participant identifier related to consumer node 126. This may allow to filter consumer nodes requesting access to such article data based on associated decentral participant identifiers, hence improving security to ensure that no unauthorized consumer nodes can access the article data. If consumer node 126 is not authorized to access the article data, provider node 122 may terminate the peer-to-peer communication and may not provide any article data. If consumer node 126 is authorized to access the article data, provider node 122 may gather the requested article data from DB 506 storing article passports based on the decentral identifier(s) received from consumer node 126 (see steps [7], [8] of FIG. 5). Provider node 122 may provide the gathered article data to consumer node 126 (see step [9] in FIG. 5). Provider node 122 may apply processing rule(s) indicating permission(s), obligation(s) and / or prohibition(s) of data consumer(s) with respect to the processing of the article data to the article data prior to providing such data to consumer node 126. Consumer node 126 may provide the received article data to fraction controller 414. Fraction controller 414 may be configured to generate control data for sorting of the waste article, for example as described in the context of FIG. 7.

[0309] Through the decentral identifier, the article data can be uniquely associated with the article. Through the decentral network, the article data may be transferred between producers involved in producing the article and article users, such as EOL collector / sorter 110 and plastic recycler 112, in a standardized and secure 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0310] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0311] 47 way, allowing the producers to control access to the article data by multiple decentral data consuming network nodes existing within the decentral network via the decentral identifier. This way, the article data can be shared with unique association to the article and without central intermediary directly between the participants of the product ecosystem in a secure and reliable manner.

[0312] FIG. 6 illustrates an example of waste stream separation by a sorting system 402 including a decentral network interface 416.

[0313] In contrast to the examples illustrated in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 where multiple sensors 204, 208 are required for achieving a meaningful sorting depth, the sorting system 402 described in FIG. 4 with the interface 416 to the decentral network 134 allows for simpler and more reliable sorting. As illustrated in FIG. 6 the sorting can be executed in a single step based on the decentral identifier and the data accessible for such decentral identifier through the interface 416 to the decentral network 134. As a result, staged sorting processes based on different sensor techniques can be avoided and the sorting can be conducted more efficiently. FIG. 6 illustrates the single-shot sorting depth achievable by the sorting system 402 with decentral network interface 416 in comparison to the sensor-based sorting system of FIG. 2 with staged sorting depth as illustrated in FIG. 3.

[0314] FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of an example sorting method which may be implemented in the sorting system 402 including the decentral network interface 416. The sorting method may be configured to sort a plastic waste stream into one or more waste fraction(s). The plastic waste stream may include waste plastic products, such as a waste plastic toy(s), waste plastic toy part(s), waste plastic shoe part(s) and / or waste plastic furniture part(s). The waste plastic products may include end-of-life plastic products. The end-of-life plastic products may have been produced by a plastic product production and may have been provided to plastic product users. The plastic products users may have disposed the plastic products after usage as end-of-life plastic products.

[0315] With reference to FIG. 4, the waste articles 210 may include an identification element 408 associated with the decentral identifier per waste article 210. The identification element 408 may be detected. The identification element 408 may be an optical identification element such as a QR code or an electronic identification element such as an RFID tag. The reader 406 may detect the identification element 408. The decentral identifier per waste article 210 may be provided based on such detection. For example, a QR code may be detected by the optical reader. The reader may translate the QR-code to the decentral identifier. Alternatively, the reader may translate the QR-code into an article identifier of the QR-code. Based on the article identifier, the decentral identifier may be gathered as described in the context of FIG. 5. Similarly, an RFID tag identifier may be used. Further for example, the identification element 408 may include a physical tracer material contained in the waste article 210. The identification element may be detected by a method detecting the tracer, such as X-ray detector configured to detect tracer 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0316] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0317] 48 molecules or metals. Based on the tracer identification the decentral identifier may be gathered as described in the context of FIG. 5.

[0318] Returning to FIG. 7 and with continued reference to FIG. 4, control data may be generated if no identifier element is detected to separate the waste article 210 without ID element from the waste articles 210 for which the identifier element is detected. The waste article 210 without ID element detection may be fed to a sensor-based sorting system, such as the one described in the context of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.

[0319] Based on the decentral identifier, property data associated with the waste article 210, such as material composition data and / or article history data, may be gathered by accessing decentral network nodes of the decentral network 134, that are associated with other participants of the decentral network 134 such as illustrated in the context of FIG. 1 .

[0320] For example, the monomer(s), monomer type(s), polymer(s), polymer type(s), additive(s) and / or additive type(s) present in the waste article 210 may be provided by the decentral network node 122 associated with the plastic product producer, such as the plastic toy producer 106. Further for example, the monomer(s) and / or polymer(s) and / or additive(s) present in the waste article 210 may be provided by the decentral network node 120 associated with the chemical product producer 104. Further for example, the origin, application and / or use of the waste article 210 may be provided by the decentral network node 122 associated with the plastic product producer, such as the plastic toy producer 106. To provide property data of the waste article 210 from decentral network node(s) 118 to 124, the decentral identifier associated with the waste article 210 may be linked to decentral identifiers associated with physical entities of the input materials used to produce the waste article 210. The decentral identifier(s) associated with the monomer(s), polymer(s) and / or additive(s) used to produce the waste article may be linked to the decentral identifier associated with the waste product 210. The linking of the decentral identifiers along the material flow allows for tracking the composition and / or history of the polymer-containing product. The linking of identifiers may be resolved by an identifier management system of the decentral network 134 (not shown in FIG. 1) based on the decentral identifier associated with the waste article 210. The identifier management system may manage the process for accessing the respective data providing network node(s) based on resolved linking of the identifiers. The linking of identifiers may be resolved on receiving the article passport associated with the decentral identifier. For example, the identifier linking may be part of the article passport associated with the waste article 210. The article passport may include the decentral identifier associated with the waste article 210, the property data and the decentral identifier(s) associated with the monomer(s), polymer(s) and / or additive(s) used to produce the waste article and linked to the decentral identifier associated with the waste product 210.

[0321] Based on the material composition data and / or the article history data fraction control data may be generated. Waste articles 210, such as waste plastic toys, waste plastic toy parts, waste plastic shoe parts and / or plastic waste furniture parts, may be sorted according to the fraction control data. For 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0322] 49 example and with reference to FIG. 4, the sorting system 402 may include classification instructions configured to match the material composition data to pre-determined plastic waste fraction(s) for material composition(s) associated with such material composition data. The pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify the polymer type(s), range(s) for article quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the article, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the article, recycled material content, biobased material content, renewable content, biodegradability or combinations thereof. The pre-determined plastic waste fraction may for example specify the polymer types to be included in the plastic waste fraction depending on the recycling process and / or the further use of the recycled material produced from such recycling process. The pre-defined plastic waste fractions may include at least one of two types of plastic waste fractions. Each type of waste fraction may be associated with a pre-defined polymer type, such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyurethanes (PU), thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) and Styrene-Ethylene-Butylene-Styrene (SEBS), thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), copolyester elastomers (COPE), polymethyl (meth)acrylates, polyamides, polyoxymethylenes, polytetrafluoroethylenes, thermoplastic olefins (TPO), polyurethane foams, polyethylene foams, viscoelastic polyurethane foams, polyisoprene foams, styrene butadiene rubber foams. The types of plastic waste fraction may be tailored to mechanical recycling to produce recycled polymer material (e.g. polymer recyclate). The recycled polymer material may be used to produce new plastic products and / or parts thereof.

[0323] Further for example, the sorting system 402 may include classification instructions configured to match the article history data to a pre-determined plastic waste fraction for such article history data. The predetermined plastic waste fraction may specify the origin of the article such as specific manufacturer, location and / or region, the application of the article such as toys, shoes, furniture, bottles, foils or fibers, the use of the article such as food, non-food, child toys, toys, non-toys, shoes, non-shoes, furniture, nonfurniture, automotive, medical or combinations thereof. For example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify a specific manufacturer, the application of the article as toy and the use of the article as child toy. Further for example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify a specific manufacturer, the application of the article as shoe and the use of the article as shoe part. Further for example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify a specific manufacturer, the application of the article as furniture and the use of the article as furniture part.

[0324] The pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify the polymer type(s) to be included in the plastic waste fraction depending on the origin of the article, the application of the article and the use of the article. For example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify TPE as polymer type to be included in the plastic waste fraction, a specific manufacturer as origin of the article, toys as application of the article and child toys as use of the article. Further for example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify TPE as polymer type to be included in the plastic waste fraction, toys as application 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0325] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0326] 50 of the article and child toys as use of the article. Further for example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify TPE as polymer type to be included in the plastic waste fraction, toys as application of the article and child toys, shoe parts, furniture parts, automotive and / or medical as use of the article. Further for example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify thermoplastic polyurethane as polymer type to be included in the plastic waste fraction, a specific manufacturer as origin of the article, shoes as application of the article and shoe parts as use of the article. Further for example, the predetermined plastic waste fraction may specify thermoplastic polyurethane as polymer type to be included in the plastic waste fraction, shoes as application of the article and shoe parts as use of the article. Further for example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify thermoplastic polyurethane as polymer type to be included in the plastic waste fraction, shoes as application of the article and toys, shoe parts, furniture parts, automotive and / or medical as use of the article. Further for example, the predetermined plastic waste fraction may specify polyethylene foams as polymer type to be included in the plastic waste fraction, a specific manufacturer as origin of the article, furniture as application of the article and furniture parts as use of the article. Further for example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify polyethylene foam as polymer type to be included in the plastic waste fraction, furniture as application of the article and furniture parts as use of the article. Further for example, the pre-determined plastic waste fraction may specify polyethylene foam as polymer type to be included in the plastic waste fraction, furniture as application of the article and toys, shoe parts, furniture parts, automotive and / or medical as use of the article. This may enable closed material loops for specific origins, applications and / or uses. Through matching the property data accessed via the decentral network 134 for the specific waste article 210 with the classification instructions, the waste articles 210, such as waste plastic toys, may be separated per pre-defined fraction.

[0327] The property data and / or the decentral identifier per waste article 210 per plastic waste fraction may be gathered. The gathered decentral identifier(s) and / or the property data per fraction may be assigned to a fraction identifier, such as a decentral fraction identifier, per fraction. The gathered decentral identifier(s) and / or the property data may be aggregated to fraction data. Fraction data may relate to a fraction composition and / or a fraction history. For example, the material composition data per decentral identifier may be aggregated by composition, compounds contained in the waste fraction and / or their respective quantities, such as amounts. Further for example, the article history per decentral identifier may be aggregated to signify the origin, application, and / or use of the articles included in the fraction. This may include origin such as specific article manufacturers. This may include application types such as toys, shoes, furniture, bottles, foils or fibers or the like. This may include uses in food industry, non-food industry, child toys industry, toys industry, non-toys industry, shoe industry, non-shoe industry, furniture industry, non-furniture industry, automotive industry, medical industry or the like.

[0328] Based on the classification and / or the aggregated fraction data, the recycling process may be determined and / or assigned to the fraction identifier. The classification may include a recycling process specific 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0329] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0330] 51 classification. For example, the material composition per fraction may be specified to include a first class of waste articles and to exclude a second class of waste articles. The first class may include thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), such as Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) and Styrene-Ethylene-Butylene-Styrene (SEBS), thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), copolyester elastomers (COPE) or thermoplastic olefins (TPO). The first class may include polymer foams, such as expanded thermoplastic polyurethane particles and / or thermoplastic polyurethane foams and / or polyvinyl chloride foams and / or polycarbonate foams and / or polystyrene foams and / or polyethylene foams and / or polypropylene foams and / or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene foams and / or polyoxymethylene foams and / or polytetrafluoroethylene foams and / or viscoelastic polyurethane foams and / or polyisoprene foams and / or styrene butadiene rubber foams. For pure TPE streams, in particular for pure SBS, SEBS, TPU, TPV, COPE or TPO streams, mechanical recycling may be specified as recycling process. For pure polymer foam streams, in particular for pure expanded thermoplastic polyurethane particles, thermoplastic polyurethane foams, polyvinyl chloride foams, polycarbonate foams, polystyrene foams, polyethylene foams, polypropylene foams, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene foams, polyoxymethylene foams, polytetrafluoroethylene foams, viscoelastic polyurethane foams, polyisoprene foams or styrene butadiene rubber foams streams, mechanical recycling may be specified as recycling process. In addition, the application and / or use of the article may be part of the pre-determined classification. For example, application(s) and / or use(s) may be specified to collect pure TPE streams and / or pure polymer foam streams that are not suitable for use in the toy industry, the shoe industry and / or the furniture industry and the recycled polymer material may be provided to other industries than the toy industry, the shoe industry and / or the furniture industry for producing new products using the recycled polymer material.

[0331] The second class of articles may exclude articles not suitable for use as recycled polymer material in the toy industry, the shoe industry and / or the furniture industry due to contaminants excluded in such industries and / or due to contaminants exceeding threshold values. The threshold values may be associated with the presence of such contaminants within the plastic product and / or plastic product parts, such as the plastic toy, plastic toy part, plastic shoe part and plastic furniture part, and / or the migration of such contaminants from the plastic product and / or plastic product part to its surroundings during use of the plastic product. The threshold value(s) may be defined by existing regulation, such as ROHS, CFR, REACH and DIN EN 71 . Contaminants excluded in toy industry, e.g. contaminants forbidden to be present within plastic toys, may include lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP) and diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP). Contaminants associated with threshold value(s) for their presence and / or for migration may include 1 ,2-benzisothiazol-3(2H)-one, 2- methylisothiazolin-3(2H)-one, 5-Chloro-2-methyl-isothiazolin-3(2H)-one, aluminium and aluminum compounds, aniline, antimony, antimony compounds, arsenic, arsenic compounds, barium, barium compounds, bisphenol A, boron, boron compounds, chromium(lll) compounds, cobalt, cobald compounds, copper, copper compounds, formaldehyde, manganese, manganese compounds or any 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0332] 52 combinations thereof. Contaminants excluded in shoe industry, e.g. contaminants forbidden to be present within plastic shoe parts, may include phthalates, formaldehyde, heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, mercury and chromium VI, azo dyes, perfluorinated compounds (RFCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) or any combinations thereof. Contaminants excluded in furniture industry, e.g. contaminants forbidden to be present within plastic furniture parts, may include phthalates, formaldehyde, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), brominated and chlorinated flame retardants or any combinations thereof. The presence of these compounds in the sorted fraction and hence in the recycled polymer material produced from such fraction via mechanical recycling may not allow to use such recycled polymer material for the production of new plastic toys, plastic shoe parts and plastic furniture parts. Thus, by reliably excluding such substances or contaminants for recycling already at the sorting stage of plastic waste through the material composition data and / or article history data accessible via the decentral network higher quality waste fractions can be obtained, allowing the use of recycled polymer material resulting from such fractions within the toy industry, the shoe industry and / or the furniture industry. This way, recycled polymer material resulting from mechanical recycling of plastic waste products, such as plastic waste toys, plastic waste shoe parts and / or plastic waste furniture parts, may be used to produce new plastic products, such as plastic toys, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, improving the environmental impact of such plastic products and hence also the plastic product production due to increased use of recycled material. In addition, this enables closed material loops, allowing to reliably source recycled polymer material for the production of new plastic products.

[0333] Per fraction a fraction ID and a recycling process ID specifying a recycling process, such as mechanical, chemical and / or thermal (incineration), may be assigned. The fraction ID may include a decentral identifier. The recycling process ID may include a decentral identifier. A waste fraction passport may be generated by linking the decentral identifier(s) with the aggregated fraction data.

[0334] The fraction data may be provided for access to decentral network node(s) of decentral network 134. The fraction data may be provided via the decentral network 134 based on the decentral identifier(s) associated with the fraction. The fraction data may be accessible at the fraction data owner, such as EOL collector / sorter 110, via the decentral network 134 based on the decentral identifier(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. The fraction data may be provided by the decentral network node 126 associated with the EOL collector / sorter 110. The fraction data may be provided under control of the data owner of the fraction data. The waste fraction passport may be associated with a digital representation of the fraction data. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the fraction data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. The digital representation may further include a decentral fraction identifier. The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network for the decentral identifier to be discoverable and / or accessible for decentral network nodes of the decentral network. The waste fraction passport may be stored in a database associated with the data owner, such as the fraction producer (e.g. EOL collector / sorter 110), for access by data consumer(s), 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0335] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0336] 53 such as plastic recycler 112. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner based on the decentral identifier(s) of the waste fraction passport. Access to the database may be controlled via the decentral fraction identifier (see for example FIG. 5). The fraction data may be accessed by the decentral data consuming service of the decentral network node 122, 126 associated with the plastic recycler 112 or the plastic toy producer 106.

[0337] FIG. 8A to Fig. 8C illustrate example data structures used for a sorting method based on material composition data and / or article history data accessible by way of a decentral network interface. The sorting method may include the sorting method described in the context of FIG. 6. The material composition data and / or the article history data may be accessed via the decentral network interface as described in the context of FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 7.

[0338] FIG. 8A illustrates a data structure based on material composition data. The data structure may be generated based on material composition data associated with waste articles 210. The material composition data may be retrieved based on decentral identifier(s) associated with the waste articles from decentral network nodes associated with participants of the decentral network 134 illustrated in FIG. 1. The material passport(s) (e.g. article data packages) including the material composition data may be retrieved per waste article 210 from the decentral network node(s) associated with participant(s) of the decentral network 134 that own the respective material passport(s). For example, the waste article data packages 1 to 5 (e.g. material passports 1 to 5) may be retrieved from the decentral network 134 as described in the context of FIG. 5 and Fig. 7. The waste article data packages 1 to 5 may specify the material composition per waste article. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort TPE containing waste articles 210 with a level of contaminants, such as contaminants described in the context of FIG. 7, above a threshold value, e.g. contaminant mass fraction above 0% into one waste fraction. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort TPE containing waste articles 210 without contaminants, such as contaminants described in the context of FIG. 7, into a second waste fraction. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort PP containing articles without contaminants such as nitrogen or chlorine, into a third waste fraction. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort the TPE containing waste articled 210 containing pre-defined pigment(s) into one waste fraction. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort the TPE containing waste article 210 without contaminants, with a level of first pigment(s) above a threshold value, such as >10%, >8%, >6%, >4%, >2%, >1 %, >0.5% and with a level of second pigment(s) below a threshold value, such as <10%, <8%, <6%, <4%, <2%, <1 %, <0.5% into one waste fraction. This way the quality of the sorted waste fraction can be increased with respect to the re-use of the waste fraction.

[0339] FIG. 8B and FIG. 8C illustrate data structures based on article history.

[0340] The data structure may be generated based on article history data associated with waste articles 210. The article history data may be retrieved based on decentral identifier(s) associated with articles from 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0341] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0342] 54 decentral network nodes associated with participants of the decentral network 134 illustrated in FIG. 1. The material passport(s) (e.g. article data packages) including the article history data may be retrieved per waste article 210 from the decentral network node(s) associated with participant(s) of the decentral network 134 that own the respective material passport(s). For example, the waste article data packages 1 to 5 (e.g. material passports 1 to 5) may be retrieved from the decentral network 134 as described in the context of FIG. 5 and FIG. 7.

[0343] The article data packages 1 to 5 or 1 to 4 may specify the material composition and the article history per waste article. The article history may specify the use, application, and origin of the waste article. In the example of FIG. 8B this may include the manufacturer. In the example of FIG. 8C, this may include the manufacturer and the application. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort TPE containing waste articles 210 by material composition as explained for example in the context of FIG. 8A. . In addition, the waste articles 210 may be sorted by origin as illustrated in FIG. 8B or by application as illustrated in FIG. 8C. TPE waste articles 210 used in the toy industry may be sorted to the waste fraction for mechanical recycling for use of the recycled polymer material in the toy industry, if the TPE does not contain any contaminants or if the level of contaminants is below a given threshold value.

[0344] For TPE waste articles 210 exceeding the contaminant level, the pre-defined classification may sort the TPE waste articles 210 to the waste fraction for mechanical recycling for use of the recycled polymer material in other industries than the toy industry, since the level of contaminants does not allow to use such recycled polymer material in the toy industry. For TPE waste articles 210 exceeding the contaminant level, the pre-defined classification may sort the TPE waste articles 210 to the waste fraction for chemical recycling since the level of contaminants requires chemical recycling to renew the loop count of the material. This way the waste articles can be sorted with more depth in sorting allowing for tailored processing. The quality of the sorted waste fraction can be increased with respect to the re-use of the waste fraction.

[0345] FIG. 9 illustrates an example use of the pre-defined classification configured to separate plastic articles by recycling method.

[0346] As illustrated in FIG. 2, FIG. 4, FIG. 6, FIG. 7 and FIG. 8A to FIG. 8C the material composition data and / or the article history data may be provided to the sorting system 402 via a decentral network interface 416 configured to retrieve data from node(s) of a decentral network 134. The data may relate to material composition and / or article history. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort waste articles 210 according to the material composition and / or article history into waste fraction(s). The gathered data per waste article 210 may be aggregated to determine the material composition of the sorted waste fraction. The pre-defined classification may be configured to sort the waste articles according to the material composition and / or article history into waste fraction(s). The pre-defined classification may be additionally configured to assign the recycling process to the respective sorted waste fraction. Recycling 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0347] 55 processes may include mechanical, chemical and / or solvent-based recycling processes. The chemical recycling process types may include depolymerization, pyrolysis and gasification. The solvent-based recycling process type may include dissolution. The different recycling process types may be applicable to different fraction compositions. For example, TPE that is not usable for mechanical recycling owing to the level of contaminants may be assigned to depolymerization as recycling process type. The depolymerization process may be further defined with regard to the depolymerization process type such as polycondensation via hydrolysis, glycolysis, methanolysis or transesterification. Further for example, fractions including mixed plastic waste with limited oxygen content such as PE, PP, PS, may be assigned to pyrolysis as recycling process type. The pyrolysis process may be further defined with regard to pyrolysis type based on operating conditions such as temperature, pressure, residence time, catalyst or thermal profiles.

[0348] As illustrated in FIG. 9 the identifiers of sorted waste fractions may be assigned to recycling process identifiers. The pre-defined classification may be used for sorting by a sorting system, such as sorting system 402. The sorting system may connect an identifier element associated with the fraction ID to the sorted waste fraction. The fraction ID may include or relate to the decentral identifier of the waste fraction. The fraction ID and associated fraction data may be provided for access by decentral network node(s) of the decentral network 134 by the decentral network node 126 associated with the EOL collector / sorter 110 sorting the plastic waste stream. The recycling process ID in association with the fraction ID may also be provided for access by decentral network node(s) of the decentral network 134 by the decentral network node 124 associated with EOL collector / sorter 110 sorting the plastic waste stream. The fraction ID and recycling process ID may be accessed by the decentral network node 126 of plastic recycler 112. The plastic recycler 112 may retrieve - based on the fraction ID - the fraction data and / or recycling process ID from the decentral network node 124 associated with the EOL collector / sorter 110. The plastic recycler 112 may store the fraction data and / or recycling process ID in a dedicated storage associated with the plastic recycler 112. Based on the fraction ID, fraction data and the recycling process ID, the recycling process may be operated by plastic recycler 112. The fraction data may be used to generate recycled material data. Recycled material identifier(s) may be assigned to the recycled material produced from respective fractions. This way not only the sorting process but also the recycling process may be monitored and / or controlled. In addition, this allows to access recycled material data via the decentral network 134 based on the recycled material IDs to monitor and / or control production of new output products, such as plastic products or parts thereof, based on the accessed recycled material data.

[0349] FIG. 10 illustrates a system and associated methods for controlling recycling of sorted plastic waste fraction(s) by way of a decentral network interface. At least one of the plastic waste fractions may include plastic waste toys, plastic shoe parts or plastic furniture parts. The plastic waste fraction(s) may be sorted from a plastic waste stream using the sorting system illustrated in FIG. 4. The plastic waste fraction(s) may be sorted from the plastic waste stream as described in the context of FIG. 7 to FIG. 9. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0350] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0351] 56

[0352] The plastic waste fraction(s) may be provided from a waste fraction producer, such as EOL collector / sorter 110 to the plastic recycler 112. The plastic waste fraction(s) may be associated with fraction data as described in the context of FIG. 9. The plastic waste fraction(s) may be associated with fraction data and recycling process IDs.

[0353] The plastic recycler 112 may operate a recycling plant 1022. The recycling plant may perform one or more recycling process(es). The recycling process(es) may include mechanical recycling step(s). Mechanical recycling step(s) may include extrusion step(s) and granulation step(s). The mechanical recycling step(s) may further include cleaning step(s) and / or size reduction step(s). The sorted waste fraction(s) may be shredded or cut to reduce the size of the waste articles 210, such as waste plastic toys, waste shoe parts or waste furniture parts, included in the sorted waste fraction(s). The size reduced waste articles may be cleaned to remove contaminants and the cleaned waste pieces may be dried. The dried waste pieces may be extruded, for example using melt extrusion, and the extruded material may be pelletized to obtain recycled polymer material 1016.

[0354] The recycling plant may use waste fractions as input material to produce recycled material, such as a polymer recyclate, a monomer recyclate, a hydrocarbon recyclate or a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The recycling plant may be associated with operating system 1004. Operating system 1004 may be configured to monitor and / or control recycling process(es) performed within the recycling plant. Operating system 1004 may monitor and / or control the feed of sorted waste fraction(s) to recycling plant 1022. Operating system 1004 may monitor and / or control the exit of recycled material produced by 1022.

[0355] On entry of sorted waste fraction(s) 1002 to the recycling plant (signified by the system boundary 1020), the fraction data and recycling process ID associated with the sorted waste fraction(s) 1002 may be accessed by a data consuming node 126 associated with plastic recycler 112 from a data providing node 124 associated with EOL collector / sorter 110 via decentral network 134, for example as described in relation to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7. Accessing of the fraction data and recycling process ID may be triggered by a sensor reading identifier element(s) attached to the sorted waste fraction(s). The identifier element may be attached per sorted waste fraction. The identifier element may encode the fraction identifier. The identifier element may relate to the fraction identifier. Based on data acquired by the sensor, the fraction data and the recycling process ID may be accessed via consuming node 126 associated with operating system 1004 at providing node 124 associated with EOL collector / sorter 110, for example as described in relation to FIG. 5. The accessed fraction data and recycling process ID may be provided to feed data generator 1010 included in operating system 1004.

[0356] Feed data generator 1010 may be configured to generate feed data for monitoring and / or controlling the recycling of the sorted waste fraction(s) 1002 to produce the recycled material. Feed data generator 1010 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0357] 57 may be configured to generate the feed data based on target property data associated with at least one target property of the recycled material, the fraction data and optionally the recycling process ID.

[0358] The target property data may be stored in database 1008 accessible by feed data generator 1010. The target property data may include target material composition data associated with the target material composition of the recycled material. The target property data may be associated with recycling process(es), the origin of the plastic waste fraction(s), application(s) of article(s) contained in the waste fraction(s) and / or uses of the recycled material. For instance, the target property data may be linked to recycling process IDs of recycling process(es) for processing the sorted waste fraction(s). In addition or alternatively, the target property data may be linked to uses of the recycled material, such as the use of recycled material to produce new output products. The target material composition data may define material(s), such as polymer(s), to be included in the recycled material. The target material composition data may define material(s) and associated amount(s) to be included in the recycled material. The target material composition data may define threshold value(s) for contaminant(s) contained within the recycled material. The threshold value(s) may be maximum threshold value(s) defining the maximum amount per contaminant which can be present within the recycled material. The target material composition data may relate to the use of the recycled material and / or the production process using the recycled material as input material. The target material composition data may be determined based on the use of the recycled material. For instance, threshold value(s) for contaminant(s) may be defined based on the use of the recycled material, such as production of new plastic toys, new plastic shoe parts or new plastic furniture parts. Further for example, the target material composition data may be determined based on the production process, such as plastic toy production, shoe part production or furniture part production, using the recycled material as input material.

[0359] The feed data may be generated based on instructions configured to match the fraction data to target property data per recycling process and / or a use of the recycled material obtained from the recycling process. The fraction data may include material composition data and / or fraction history data associated with the sorted waste fraction. The instructions may be configured to match the material composition data included in the fraction data to the target material composition data included in the target property data. The instructions may be configured to match the fraction history data included in the fraction data to the origin, application(s) and / or uses included in the target property data. Through matching the fraction data accessed via the decentral network 134 to the target property data based on the instructions, recycled material fulfilling a target composition for a given use of the recycled material may be produced from the recycling process. This way, the composition of the recycled material may be tailored to use of the recycled material, allowing to use the recycled material for producing new output products required to fulfil strict requirements with respect to contaminants contained in such output products, such as plastic toys, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, and hence enabling loop material flows despite requiring a low level or absence of contaminants in the output products. Increasing the amount of recycled 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0360] 58 material that can be used to produce new output products allows to improve the environmental impact of the output product production and hence also the environmental impact of the product ecosystem including the output products.

[0361] The feed data may be generated by determining mixture data specifying sorted plastic waste fractions to be mixed prior to providing the mixture of the plastic waste fractions to the recycling process. Mixture data may be generated based on material composition data of the waste fractions and the target property data. Mixture data may be generated by determining weighted quantities of sorted plastic waste fractions depending on the fraction data per sorted plastic waste fraction and the target property data. Generating mixture data may include determining weighted quantities of sorted plastic waste fractions depending on the material composition data per sorted plastic waste fraction. Generating mixture data may include determining weighted quantities of sorted plastic waste fractions depending on the target property data. The weighted sum of at least part of the material composition, such as polymer(s), polymer type(s), additive(s), contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s), per sorted plastic waste fraction may be lower than or equal to respective target material composition defined by the target property data. The mixture data may include machine-readable instructions for monitoring and / or controlling the preparation of the plastic waste fraction mixture, wherein the plastic waste fraction mixture is prepared based on the mixture data. The mixture data may specify multiple sorted plastic waste fractions to be mixed and provided to the recycling process. The mixture data may relate to instructions for preparing the sorted plastic waste fraction mixture. By blending sorted plastic waste fractions in a targeted manner based on requirements of plastic products produced from recycled materials obtained by recycling the blended plastic waste fractions, produced recycled materials can be used more effectively within the plastic product ecosystems while reliably managing the quality constraints target property / ies of plastic products impose on feedstocks. In particular, generating the mixture data for blending the sorted plastic waste fractions based on target property data specific to the toy production, shoe production or furniture production, allows for reliable, effective and efficient usage of recycled materials as feedstocks to produce new plastic toys and / or parts thereof, or to produce new plastic shoe parts or to produce new plastic furniture parts.

[0362] Feed data generator 1010 may be configured to generate feed data packages including fraction identifier(s) of sorted waste fraction(s) to be recycled. The feed data packages may include a collection of fraction identifiers associated with sorted waste fractions that result in recycled material fulfilling target composition data for a given recycling process. The feed data packages may be linked to a recycling process identifier. The feed data packages may indicate the use of the recycled material. The feed data may include fraction identifiers of sorted waste fraction(s) to be processed within a recycling step and an associated recycling process identifier. The feed data may further include the use of recycled material produced based on the feed data. The recycling of sorted waste fraction(s) associated with a feed data package may be performed batch-wise to avoid a mixing of sorted waste fraction(s). The processing may be performed in a continuous manner. The feed data may include instruction(s) defining the recycling 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0363] 59 step(s) to be performed. The feed data may include instruction(s) for mixing at least two sorted waste fraction(s) to achieve recycled material fulfilling target composition data. For instance, the level of contaminants may be reduced by mixing sorted waste fraction(s) including a higher level of contaminant(s) with sorted waste fraction(s) not containing such contaminant(s) or containing lower levels of such contaminant(s). The feed data may define sorted waste fraction(s) to be used to produce a recycled material having a given material composition (e.g. target material composition).

[0364] Feed data generator 1010 may be configured to generate the provided feed data to recycling plant 1022 for producing recycled material 1016 from sorted waste fraction(s) based on the feed data. Recycling plant may produce recycled material, such as recycled polymer material, via one or more recycling steps, from the sorted waste fraction(s) 1002 based on the received feed data. The recycling step(s) may include mechanical recycling. The recycling step(s) may include pyrolysis, gasification or solvent-based recycling.

[0365] Production data associated with the production of the recycled material may be collected and may be provided to operating system 1004. Operating system 1004 may be configured to store such production data within a database (not shown in FIG. 10). The production data may be collected prior to, upon and / or after production of the recycled material. The production data may include recycled material identifier(s) associated with the recycled material, energy data associated with energy supply required to run the recycling process, production conditions required to transform the sorted waste fraction(s) to recycled material, the fraction identifier(s) of the sorted waste fraction used to produce the recycled material, amount(s) of waste fraction(s) associated with the fraction identifier(s) or any combination thereof. The production data may be a part of the recycled material data associated with the recycled material. The recycled material data may include recycled material name, recycled material identifier, emission data, production data, bio-based content data, renewable content data, recycled content data, composition data, history data, material safety data, handling instruction(s), use of the recycled material or a combination thereof.

[0366] The produced recycled material may be associated with an identifier element. The identifier element may be physically attached to the recycled material or the packaging unit comprising the recycled material. The identifier element may encode a recycled material identifier associated with the recycled material. The identifier element may be associated with or relate to the recycled material identifier. The identifier element may be a bar code, a QR code, a marker, an RFID chip or the like. The identifier element may be generated by a labelling machine. The labelling machine may be configured to trigger generation of a recycled material passport associated with the recycled material, for example upon detection of a packaging unit containing the recycled material. The trigger may provide the recycled material identifier associated with the recycled material to passport generator 1012 included in operating system 1004. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0367] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0368] 60

[0369] Passport generator 1012 may be configured to generate recycled material passport(s) associated with recycled material(s) 1016 produced by recycling plant 1022 from one or more sorted waste fraction(s). Passport generator 1012 may be configured to generate and provide a decentral identifier associated with the recycled material data. The decentral identifier may be discoverable and / or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network. The decentral identifier may be provided by a unit included in passport generator 1012. The recycled material data may include recycled material name, recycled material identifier, emission data, production data, bio-based content data, renewable content data, recycled content data, composition data, material safety data, handling instruction(s), use of the recycled material or a combination thereof. Passport generator 1012 may be configured to generate the recycled material passport including the decentral identifier and the recycled material data. Passport generator 1012 may further be configured to provide the recycled material passport for access within the decentral network 134. Providing the recycled material data may include generating a digital representation of the recycled material data. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the material data or parts thereof, for example as described in the context of FIG. 7. The digital representation may further include the decentral identifier. The representation may point to the database storing the recycled material data. The representation may point to the decentral data providing node 126 associated with the data owner of the recycled material data, such as the plastic recycler 112. Passport generator 1012 may be configured to provide the decentral identifier to assignor 1018 for linking the decentral identifier with the recycled material identifier. Passport generator 1012 may be configured to provide the digital representation to the decentral network for the decentral identifier to be discoverable and / or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network. Passport generator 1012 may be configured to provide the digital representation to a decentral registry accessible by at least a part of the participant nodes of the decentral network.

[0370] The recycled material passport may be stored in a database associated with the data owner of the recycled material passport, such as plastic recycler 112. The database may be accessible for the data owner. The data owner may control access to the database, for example via the decentral identifier included in the recycled material passport.

[0371] Through the decentral identifier, the recycled material data can be uniquely associated with the recycled material. Through the decentral network, the recycled material data may be transferred between recyclers involved in producing the recycled material and recycled material users, such as chemical product producer 104 and / or plastic toy producer 106, in a standardized and secure way, allowing the recyclers to control access to the recycled material data by multiple decentral data consuming network nodes existing within the decentral network via the decentral identifier. This way, the recycled material data can be shared with unique association to the recycled material and without central intermediary directly between the participants of the product ecosystem in a secure and reliable manner. Such sharing may allow to control production of new output product, such as plastic toys, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0372] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0373] 61 furniture parts, using such recycled material based on the recycled material data. This may enable production of output products fulfilling strict regulation(s) with respect to contaminants contained within the output products despite the use of recycled material. This way, the environmental impact associated with the production of new output products, such as plastic toys, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts, may be reduced without negatively impairing the properties of the produced output products.

[0374] FIG. 11 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for controlling recycling of sorted plastic waste fraction(s) based on fraction data accessible by way of a decentral network interface.

[0375] With reference to FIG. 10, the sorted waste fraction(s) may include an identification element associated with the decentral identifier per sorted waste fraction. The identification element may be detected, for example as described in relation to FIG. 4. The identification element may be an optical identification element such as a QR code or an electronic identification element such as an RFID tag. A reader may detect the identification element. The decentral identifier per sorted waste fraction may be provided based on such detection. For example, a QR code may be detected by the optical reader. The reader may translate the QR-code to the decentral identifier. Alternatively, the reader may translate the QR-code into a fraction identifier of the QR-code. Based on the fraction identifier, the decentral identifier may be gathered as described in the context of FIG. 5. Similarly, an RFID tag identifier may be used. Further for example, the identification element may include a physical tracer material contained in the waste articles or the packaging of the waste fraction. The identification element may be detected by a method detecting the tracer, such as X-ray detector configured to detect tracer molecules or metals. Based on the tracer identification the decentral identifier may be gathered as described in the context of FIG. 5.

[0376] Returning to FIG. 11 and with continued reference to FIG. 10, fraction data associated with the sorted waste fraction(s) 1002 may be gathered by accessing decentral network nodes of the decentral network 134, that are associated with other participants of the decentral network 134 such as illustrated in the context of FIG. 1 . The fraction data may be generated as described in the context of FIG. 7. The decentral network node(s) may be decentral data providing node(s) 126 associated with EOL collector / sorter 110. Fraction data may relate to a fraction composition and / or a fraction history, for example as described in the context of FIG. 7.

[0377] For example, the polymer(s), polymer type(s) and / or contaminant(s) present in the sorted waste fraction(s) 1002 may be provided by the decentral network node 126 associated with the EOL collector / sorter 110. Further for example, the polymer(s), polymer type(s), additive(s) and / or additive type(s) present in the sorted waste fraction(s) 1002 may be provided by the decentral network node 122 associated with the plastic toy producer 106. Further for example, the monomer(s) and / or polymer(s) and / or additive(s) present in the sorted waste fraction(s) 1002 may be provided by the decentral network node 120 associated with the chemical product producer 104. Further for example, the origin, application and / or use of the sorted waste fraction(s) 1002 may be provided by the decentral network node 126 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0378] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0379] 62 associated with the EOL collector / sorter 110. To provide material composition data of the sorted waste fraction(s) from decentral network node(s) 118 to 124, the decentral identifier(s) associated with the sorted waste fraction(s) may be linked to decentral identifiers associated with physical entities of the input materials used to produce the waste articles 210 contained in the sorted waste fraction(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 7.

[0380] Target property data associated with at least one target property of the recycled material may be provided. The target property data may include target material composition data associated with a target material composition of the recycled material as described in the context of FIG. 10. The target property data may be associated with recycling process(es), the origin of the plastic waste fraction(s), application(s) of article(s) contained in the waste fraction(s) and / or uses of the recycled material as described in the context of FIG. 10.

[0381] Feed data may be generated based on the fraction data and the provided target property data. The feed data may be generated based on instructions configured to match the fraction data to target property composition data per recycling process and / or use of the recycled material obtained from the recycling process, for example as described in the context of FIG. 10. The feed data may be generated based on mixture data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 10.

[0382] The feed data may include feed data packages including fraction identifier(s) of sorted waste fraction(s) to be recycled. The feed data packages may include a collection of fraction identifiers associated with sorted waste fractions that result in recycled material fulfilling target composition data for a given recycling process. The feed data packages may be linked to a recycling process identifier. The feed data packages may indicate the use of the recycled material. The feed data may include fraction identifiers of sorted waste fraction(s) to be processed within a recycling step and an associated recycling process identifier. The feed data may further include the use of recycled material produced based on the feed data. The recycling of sorted waste fraction(s) associated with a feed data package may be performed batch-wise to avoid a mixing of sorted waste fraction(s). The processing may be performed in a continuous manner. The feed data may include instruction(s) defining the recycling step(s) to be performed. The feed data may include instruction(s) for mixing at least two sorted waste fraction(s) to achieve recycled material fulfilling target composition data. For instance, the level of contaminants may be reduced by mixing sorted waste fraction(s) including a higher level of contaminant(s) with sorted waste fraction(s) not containing such contaminant(s) or containing lower levels of such contaminant(s). The feed data may define sorted waste fraction(s) to be used to produce a recycled material having a given material composition (e.g. target material composition).

[0383] The generated feed data may be provided for recycling of sorted waste fraction(s) based on the feed data. Providing the feed data may include providing the feed data to a recycling plant for monitoring and / or controlling the recycling of the sorted waste fraction(s) based on the feed data. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0384] 63

[0385] Recycled material data may be determined based on the feed data. The recycled material data may be determined based on the feed data and operation data associated with the plants performing the recycling step(s) for producing recycled material from the sorted waste fraction(s). The operation data may include an output product yield of each plant, a total output product yield of the recycling process, the output product yield or amount per defined time period or a combination thereof. The output product yield may define the percentage of output product obtained from a recycling step or recycling process with respect to the amount of input material provided to such step or process. Use of operation data may allow to reliably determine the recycled material data for continuous recycling processes. Additional data associated with the recycled material may be aggregated with the recycled material data. Additional data may include emission data, production data, recycled content data, renewable content data, bio-based content data, biodegradability data, safety data or combinations thereof.

[0386] The fraction data may be aggregated to recycled material data based on the feed data, this step being generally optional. At least a part of the fraction data may be converted to recycled material data based on the feed data. For example, the material composition data per waste fraction may be aggregated by composition, compounds contained in the waste fraction and / or their respective quantities, such as amounts. Further for example, the article history per waste fraction may be aggregated to signify the origin, application, and / or use of the articles included in the waste fraction. This may include origin such as specific article manufacturers. This may include application types such as toys, shoes, furniture, bottles, foils or fibers or the like. This may include uses in food industry, non-food industry, child toys industry, toys industry, non-toys industry, shoe parts, shoe industry, non-shoe industry, furniture parts, furniture industry, non-furniture industry, automotive industry, medical industry or the like. By determining recycled material data based on the feed data and optionally operation data in a data-driven manner, time-consuming and error-prone analytics of the recycled material to determine the composition of the recycled material can be avoided. This way, a more efficient and reliable determination of the composition of the recycled material may be enabled, allowing a more efficient monitoring and / or controlling of the production of new output products based on the composition of the recycled material. In addition, this allows a more efficient steering of recycled material flows based on existing requirements with respect to the composition of the output product, hence improving the amount of recycled material that can be used to produce new output products while ensuring that constraints with respect to material composition of the recycled material are fulfilled.

[0387] The recycled material data may be linked to the recycled material, this step being generally optional. The recycled material data may be linked to the recycled material via a recycled material identifier. The recycled material identifier may be associated with the recycled material. The recycled material identifier may be a decentral identifier. Linking the recycled material data to the recycled material may include generating a recycled material passport, for example as described in the context of FIG. 10. 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0388] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0389] 64

[0390] The recycled material data may be provided for access to decentral network node(s) of decentral network 134. The recycled material data may be provided via the decentral network 134 based on the decentral identifier(s) associated with the recycled material. The recycled material data may be accessible at the recycled material data owner, such as plastic recycler 112, via the decentral network 134 based on the decentral identifier(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. The recycled material data may be provided by the decentral network node 128 associated with the plastic recycler 112. The recycled material data may be provided under control of the data owner of the recycled material data. The recycled material passport may be associated with a digital representation of the recycled material data. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the recycled material data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. The digital representation may further include the decentral identifier(s). The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network for the decentral identifier(s) to be discoverable and / or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network, for example as described in the context of FIG. 10. The recycled material passport may be stored in a database associated with the data owner, such as the recycled material producer (e.g. plastic recycler 112), for access by data consumer(s), such as chemical product producer 104 and / or plastic toy producer 106. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner based on the decentral identifier(s) of the recycled material passport. Access to the database may be controlled via a decentral data providing node associated with the data owner (see for example FIG. 5). The recycled material data may be accessed by the decentral data consuming service of the decentral network node 118, 120 associated with the chemical product producer 104 or plastic toy producer 106.

[0391] FIG. 12 illustrates a system and associated methods for controlling production of plastic product(s) at least in part from recycled input material. The plastic products may include plastic toy(s), plastic toy part(s), plastic shoe part(s) and / or plastic furniture part(s). The recycled input material may be produced from one or more sorted waste fraction(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 . The recycled input material may include recycled polymer material obtained by recycling one or more sorted waste fraction(s). The recycling input material may include recycled thermoplastic elastomer material obtained by recycling one or more sorted waste fraction(s) containing thermoplastic elastomer waste articles 210, such as thermoplastic elastomer waste toys. The recycling input material may include recycled polymer foam obtained by recycling one or more sorted waste fraction(s) containing polymer foam waste articles 210, such as waste shoe parts comprising or consisting of polymer foam or waste furniture parts comprising or consisting of polymer foam. The concepts described in FIG. 12 with respect to the production of plastic toys equally apply to the production of other plastic products, such as plastic shoe parts and plastic furniture parts.

[0392] The input material may be provided from input material producers, such as plastic recycler 112 and / or chemical product producer 104 to the plastic product producer, such as plastic toy producer 106. The input material may include recycled material 114. The input material may include polymer(s), polymer 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0393] 65 mixture(s) or composition(s) including polymer(s) (denoted as further input material hereinafter). The input material may be associated with input material data. The input material data may include recycled material data. In addition, the input material data may include polymer data associated with the further input materials. The recycled material data may include material composition data associated with the material composition of the recycled material and / or recycled material history data related to the history of the recycled material. The material composition data may relate to compounds and associated amounts included in the recycled material. The material composition data may include data indicating compounds and associated amount(s) included in the recycled material. The compounds may include contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s). The recycled material history data may relate to the application of the waste articles 210 used to produce the recycled material, the use of the recycled material and / or the origin of waste articles 210 used to produce the recycled material. The application may specify the application type of the waste articles 210 used to produce the recycled material, such as toys, child toys, shoes, furniture, packaging, bottle, medical devices, automotive components, household devices, electronic devices or the like. The recycled material history data may specify the product type the waste articles 210 were used for in the current cycle and / or in prior cycles. This may be particularly relevant for polymer and recycled materials that are used in food industry, the toy industry, the shoe industry or the furniture industry. The recycled material data may specify the use of the recycled material and / or the waste articles 210 used to produce the recycled material. Uses may include food industry, toy industry, shoe industry, furniture industry, food industry only, toy industry only, shoe industry only, furniture industry only, medical industry, household industry, automotive industry or the like.

[0394] The plastic product producer may operate plastic product production plant 1216. The plastic product production plant may perform one or more production process(es) for producing plastic products, such as plastic toys, plastic toy parts, plastic shoe parts or plastic furniture parts. Plastic shoe parts may include shoe parts comprising or consisting of at least one polymer foam. Plastic furniture parts may include furniture parts comprising or consisting of at least one polymer foam. The production process may include a compounding step, an injection molding step, an assembly step and / or a coating step. In the compounding step, the recycled material 114 and optionally further polymer(s) may be mixed or blended with additive(s), for example using heat to at least partially liquefy the polymer(s) to achieve uniform mixing of the recycled material with further polymer(s) and / or the additive(s). The compounded polymer material may be extruded and solidified. The solidified polymer material may be cut into pellets which may be used in the injection molding step. The additive(s) may include pigments and / or dyes, plasticizers, stabilizers, fillers, flame retardants, UV stabilizers, antimicrobial agents or any combination thereof. The coating step may include applying at least one coating material to at least a part of the surface of the plastic product or part thereof obtained after the injection molding step. The coating material may be a pigmented coating material comprising at least one pigment. This way, a color of the plastic product or part thereof resulting from injection molding may be adapted. The coating material may be a transparent coating material. The transparent coating material may protect underlying pigmented 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0395] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0396] 66 coating layers and / or the polymer substrate. The coating material may be an aqueous coating material or a solvent-based coating material. The applied coating material may be cured to form one or more coating layers.

[0397] The plastic product production plant may use recycled material 114 as input material to produce plastic products or parts thereof 1218, such as plastic toys or parts thereof, plastic shoe parts or plastic furniture parts. The plastic product production plant may be associated with operating system 1204. Operating system 1204 may be configured to monitor and / or control toy production process(es) performed within the plastic product production plant. Operating system 1204 may monitor and / or control the feed of input material(s), such as recycled material 114 and optionally further polymer(s) supplied by chemical product producer 104 to plastic product production plant 1216. Operating system 1204 may monitor and / or control the exit of produced plastic products or parts thereof 1218.

[0398] On entry of input material including recycled material 114 to the plastic product production plant (signified by the system boundary 1214), the input material data associated with the input materials may be accessed by a data consuming node 122 associated with plastic product producer 1224 from data providing node(s) 120, 124 associated with plastic recycler 112 and / or chemical product producer 104 via decentral network 134, for example as described in relation to FIG. 5 and FIG. 7. The input material data accessed via the decentral network 134 may include recycled material data associated with the recycled material 114 entering the plastic product production plant 1216. Accessing of the input material data may be triggered by a sensor reading identifier element(s) attached to the input material(s). The identifier element may be attached per input material. The identifier element may encode an input material identifier associated with the respective input material. The input material identifier may be a decentral identifier associated with the input material data and the input material. The input material identifier may be a digital input material identifier, such as a batch number, a LOT number or a combination thereof. The identifier element may relate to the input material identifier. Based on data acquired by the sensor, the input material data, such as recycled material data, may be accessed via consuming node 122 associated with operating system 1204 at providing node 128 associated with plastic recycler 112 and / or at providing node 120 associated with chemical product producer 104, for example as described in relation to FIG. 5. The accessed input material data may be provided to feed data generator 1208 included in operating system 1204.

[0399] In addition, property data associated with the recycled material may be determined. The property data may include at least one measured chemical and / or physical property of the recycled material data and / or at least one chemical and / or physical property of the recycled material determined from measured data. The property data may be determined by sensor(s) configured to measure the properties or configured to acquired measurement data allowing determination of the properties. The chemical property may be a property of the recycled material that becomes evident during, or after, a chemical reaction. Hence, the chemical property may be any quality that can be established only by changing the chemical identity of 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0400] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0401] 67 the recycled material. Examples of chemical properties include heat of combustion, enthalpy of formation, toxicity, chemical stability in a given environment, flammability, oxidation state(s), ability to corrode, combustibility, acidity and basicity, material composition, recyclate content of the material, bio-based content of the material, renewable content of the material and / or pH value. Physical property may be any property that is measurable. Hence, the value of a physical property describes a state of the recycled material. Examples of physical properties include absorption, brittleness, boiling point, capacitance, color, concentration, density, ductility, distribution, efficacy, elasticity, electric charge, electrical conductivity, electrical impedance, electric potential, flow rate, fluidity, hardness, heat capacity, inductance, intrinsic impedance, luminance, luminescence, luster, mass, melting point, opacity, permeability, permittivity, plasticity, pressure, radiance, resistivity, reflectivity, refractive index, solubility, specific heat, strength, stiffness, temperature, tension, thermal conductivity, thermal resistance, viscosity, volume and / or wave impedance. This may allow to add additional property data data to the recycled material data accessed via the decentral network 134, allowing a more accurate feed data generation. This way, it can be ensured that plastic toys or parts thereof fulfil strict specifications for plastic toys, such as children plastic toys, despite the use of recycled material for producing such plastic toys or parts thereof.

[0402] Feed data generator 1208 may be configured to generate feed data for monitoring and / or controlling the production of the plastic products or parts thereof 1218. Feed data generator 1208 may be configured to generate the feed data based on target property data associated with target property / ies of the plastic product or the part thereof and the input material data.

[0403] The target property data may be stored in database 1206 accessible by feed data generator 1208. The target property data may relate to one or more plastic product(s) or parts thereof 1218, The target property data may relate to plastic product type(s) and / or plastic product part type(s). Database 1206 may store target property data per plastic product type and / or per plastic product part type. The target property data may be interrelated with a plastic product identifier associated with the plastic product or part thereof. The target property data may be interrelated with a plastic product identifier associated with a plastic product type or a plastic product part type.

[0404] The target property data may include chemical property / ies and / or physical property / ies of plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof. The target property data may include chemical property / ies and / or physical property / ies of plastic product type(s) and / or types of toy part(s). Chemical properties may include the material composition of the plastic product or part thereof. Physical property / ies may include mechanical property / ies such as flexibility, hardness, stiffness, elasticity and / or softness. The property data may define material(s), such as polymer(s), to be used for production of the plastic products or parts thereof. The property data may define material(s) and associated amount(s) to be included in the plastic products or parts thereof. In addition, the property data may define threshold value(s) for contaminant(s) contained within the plastic products or parts thereof. The threshold value(s) may be maximum threshold value(s) defining the maximum amount per contaminant which can be present within the plastic products 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0405] 68 or parts thereof. In addition, the property data may further include threshold value(s) for pigment(s) contained within the plastic products or parts thereof. The threshold value(s) may be maximum threshold value(s) defining the maximum amount per pigment which can be present within the plastic products or parts thereof. This way, it may be ensured that the desired appearance of the plastic products or parts thereof is not negatively impeded by the presence of pigment(s) within the recycled material used for production of the plastic products or parts thereof. For instance, recycled material containing pigment(s) below a given threshold value may not be suitable for production of white plastic products or parts thereof since the presence of the pigment(s) within the recycled material may impede the optical appearance of the white plastic products or parts thereof, hence requiring coating processes using white coating material(s) to achieve the desired optical appearance. Additional use of coating materials may, however, result in consumption of coating materials and energy as well as in the generation of waste and emissions, hence increasing the environmental impact associated with the production of the plastic products or parts thereof. By determining the feed data based on target property data, the stream of recycled material 114 used for producing plastic products or parts thereof may be tailored to obtain plastic products or parts thereof having the desired appearance without requiring extensive further treatment steps to achieve the desired appearance or without negatively impairing the desired appearance due to the presence of compound(s), such as pigment(s), within the recycled material 114 used for the production of the plastic products or parts thereof.

[0406] The feed data may be generated based on production order data associated with the production of the plastic product or parts thereof. The production order data may include plastic product identifier(s) of plastic product(s) or parts thereof to be produced by plastic product production plant 1216. In addition or alternatively, the production order data may include plastic product identifier(s) of plastic product type(s) or plastic product part type(s) to be produced by plastic product production plant 1216. The feed data may be generated based on instructions configured to match the input material data to the target property data per plastic product type and / or per plastic product part type. The instructions may be configured to match input material composition to target material composition per plastic product and / or per plastic product type. The instructions may be configured to match input material history data to target history data per plastic product and / or per plastic product type. The instructions may be configured to match the input material data and the property data of the recycled material 114 to the target property data. The input material data may include recycled material data associated with the recycled material 114. The input material data may include material composition data associated with the input materials, such as the recycled material 114 and optionally the further input material(s). Through matching the input material data accessed via the decentral network 134 for input materials including recycled material 114 with target property data based on the instructions, plastic products or parts thereof fulfilling strict regulations in terms of chemical and physical properties may be produced using recycled material 114. This way, the feed of input materials including recycled material may be tailored to fulfil strict requirements with respect to chemical and physical properties as well as appearance, hence enabling loop material flows despite 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0407] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0408] 69 requiring a low level or absence of contaminants as well as a high quality in terms of appearance and mechanical properties of the plastic products or parts thereof. Increasing the amount of recycled material that can be used to produce new plastic products or parts thereof allows to improve the environmental impact of the plastic product production and hence also the environmental impact of the product ecosystem including the plastic products.

[0409] The feed data may be generated by determining mixture data specifying recycled material and further input material(s) to be mixed prior to providing the mixed input materials to the plastic product production process, for example as described in the context of FIG. 14. Mixture data may be generated based on material composition data of the recycled material and further input materials and the target property data.

[0410] With reference to FIG. 13, feed data generator 1208 may be configured to generate feed data packages including recycled material identifier(s) of recycled material 114 to be used for the production of new plastic toys or parts thereof. The feed data packages may include a collection of recycled material identifiers associated with recycled material that result in plastic products or parts thereof fulfilling target property data. The feed data packages may include one or more recycled material identifiers associated with recycled material and one or more input material identifier(s) associated with composition(s) containing polymer(s) that result in plastic products or parts thereof fulfilling target property data. The composition containing polymer(s) may be supplied by chemical product producer 104. The composition(s) containing polymer(s) may be produced by chemical product producer 104 at least in part using recycled material, such as recycled material 114 received from plastic recycler 112. The feed data packages may be linked to a production order identifier. The feed data packages may indicate the use of the recycled material 114. The production of plastic products or parts thereof associated with a feed data package may be performed batch-wise to avoid a mixing of input material associated with different feed data packages during production. The production may be performed in a continuous manner.

[0411] Returning to FIG. 12, the feed data may include recycled material identifiers of recycled material(s) to be processed within a production step of the plastic product production plant 1216. The feed data may further include a production order identifier. The feed data may include instruction(s) defining the recycling step(s) to be performed. The feed data may include instruction(s) for mixing at least two input material(s), such as recycled material 114 and / or composition(s) containing polymer(s) to obtain input material and associated input material data which allows to fulfilling target property data. For instance, the level of contaminants and / or pigment(s) may be reduced by mixing recycled material(s) including a higher level of contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s) with recycled material(s) not containing such contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s) or containing lower levels of such contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s). Likewise, the level of contaminants and / or pigment(s) may be reduced by mixing recycled material(s) including a higher level of contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s) with composition(s) containing polymer(s) not including such contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s) or containing lower levels of such contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s). 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0412] 70

[0413] The feed data may define recycled material(s) to be used to produce plastic products or parts thereof having a given material composition and given property / ies (e.g. target property / ies). The feed data may define recycled material(s) and composition(s) containing polymer(s) supplied by chemical product producer 104 to be used to produce plastic products or parts thereof having a given material composition and given property / ies (e.g. target property / ies).

[0414] Feed data generator 1208 may be configured to provide the generated feed data to plastic product production plant 1216 for producing plastic products and / or parts thereof 1218 at least in part from recycled material 114 based on the feed data. The plastic product production plant may produce the plastic products and / or the parts thereof via one or more process steps, at least in part from recycled material 114 based on the received feed data. The process step(s) may include compounding and injection molding. The process step(s) may further include a coating step.

[0415] Production data associated with the production of the plastic products and / or parts thereof may be collected and may be provided to operating system 1204. Operating system 1204 may be configured to store such production data within a database (not shown in FIG. 12). The production data may be collected prior to, upon and / or after production of the plastic products and / or parts thereof. The production data may include toy identifier(s) associated with the plastic products and / or parts thereof, energy data associated with energy supply required to run the production process, production conditions required to transform the input materials to the plastic products and / or parts thereof, the input material identifier(s) of the input materials used to produce the plastic products and / or parts thereof, amount(s) of input materials associated with the input material identifier(s) or any combination thereof. The production data may be a part of plastic product data associated with the plastic products and / or parts thereof. The plastic product data may include a plastic product name, plastic product identifier(s), plastic product type(s), emission data, production data, bio-based content data, renewable content data, recycled content data, composition data, plastic product history data, material safety data, handling instruction(s) or a combination thereof.

[0416] The produced plastic products and / or parts thereof may be associated with an identifier element, for example as described in FIG. 10 in relation to the recycled material. The identifier element may be generated by a labelling machine. The labelling machine may be configured to trigger generation of a plastic product passport associated with the plastic product and / or part thereof, for example upon detection of a packaging unit containing the plastic product and / or part thereof or upon detection of the plastic product and / or a part thereof. The trigger may provide the plastic product identifier associated with the plastic product or the part thereof to passport generator 1012 included in operating system 1004.

[0417] Passport generator 1210 may be configured to generate plastic product passport(s) associated with plastic products and / or parts thereof 1218 produced by plastic product production plant 1216 at least in part from recycled material 114, for example as described in the context of FIG. 14. Passport generator 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0418] 71

[0419] 1210 may be configured to generate and provide a decentral identifier associated with the plastic product data. The decentral identifier may be provided by a unit included in passport generator 1210. The decentral identifier may be discoverable and / or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network. Passport generator 1210 may be configured to gather the plastic product data from a database in response to a request to generate the plastic product passport. Passport generator 1210 may be configured to gather the plastic product data from the database in response to toy identifier(s) received from trigger 1212. The plastic product data may include the plastic product name, the plastic product type, the plastic product identifier, emission data, production data, bio-based content data, renewable content data, recycled content data, composition data, material safety data, handling instruction(s), recycling instructions or any combination thereof. Passport generator 1210 may be configured to generate the plastic product passport including the decentral identifier and the toy data. Passport generator 1210 may further be configured to provide the plastic product passport for access within the decentral network 134. Providing the plastic product passport for access may include generating a digital representation of the plastic product data or parts thereof. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the plastic product data or parts thereof, for example as described in the context of FIG. 7. The digital representation may further include the decentral identifier. The representation may point to the database storing the toy data. The representation may point to the decentral data providing node 122 associated with the data owner of the toy data, such as plastic toy producer 106. Passport generator 1210 may be configured to provide the digital representation to the decentral network for the decentral identifier to be discoverable and / or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network, for example as described in the context of FIG. 10. Passport generator 1210 may be configured to provide the decentral identifier to assignor 1212 for linking the decentral identifier with the toy identifier.

[0420] The plastic product passport may be stored in a database associated with the data owner of the plastic product passport, such as plastic product producer. The database may be accessible for the data owner. The data owner may control access to the database, for example via the decentral identifier included in the plastic product passport.

[0421] Through the decentral identifier, the plastic product data can be uniquely associated with the plastic product and / or parts thereof. Through the decentral network, the plastic product data may be transferred between plastic product producers involved in producing plastic products and / or parts thereof and plastic product users or plastic product part users, such as plastic toy user 108 and / or EOL collector / sorter 110 and / or plastic recycler 112, in a standardized and secure way, allowing the plastic product producers to control access to the plastic product data by multiple decentral data consuming network nodes existing within the decentral network via the decentral identifier. This way, the plastic product data can be shared with unique association to the plastic products and / or parts thereof and without central intermediary directly between the participants of the product ecosystem in a secure and reliable manner. Such sharing may allow to control sorting of waste plastic products, such as waste plastic toys, waste plastic toy parts, 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0422] 72 waste shoe parts and / or waste furniture parts, in a data-driven manner based on the plastic product data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4 and FIG. 7. Such sharing may allow to control recycling of sorted waste fraction in a data-driven manner based on the plastic product data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 .

[0423] Digital asset generator 1222 may be configured to generate a digital asset including identifier(s) associated with the plastic products and / or parts thereof and recycled content data associated with the recycled content included in the plastic products and / or parts thereof, for example as described in the context of FIG. 15. Recycled content data may relate to the total recycled content included in the plastic product and / or part thereof. Recycled content data may include data indicating the total recycled content included in the produced plastic product . In addition or alternatively, recycled content data may relate to the recycled content from waste plastic toys and / or parts thereof, recycled content from plastic waste article(s) not being toys and / or parts thereof or a combination thereof. Recycled content data may include the recycled content derived from waste plastic toys and / or parts thereof and / or the recycled content derived from plastic waste article(s) not being toys and / or parts thereof. In addition or alternatively, recycled content data may relate to the recycled content from plastic waste shoe parts, recycled content from plastic waste article(s) not being shoe parts or a combination thereof. Recycled content data may include the recycled content derived from waste plastic shoe parts and / or the recycled content derived from plastic waste article(s) not being plastic shoe parts. In addition or alternatively, recycled content data may relate to the recycled content from plastic waste furniture parts, recycled content from plastic waste article(s) not being furniture parts or a combination thereof. Recycled content data may include the recycled content derived from waste plastic furniture parts and / or the recycled content derived from plastic waste article(s) not being plastic furniture parts.

[0424] Digital asset generator 1222 may be configured to gather production data associated with the production of the plastic products and / or parts thereof based on identifier(s) associated with the plastic product and / or the parts thereof. The identifier(s) may be decentral identifier(s). Production data may include feed data generated by feed data generator 1010. Digital asset generator 1222 may be configured to determine the recycled content data based on the gathered production data. Digital asset generator 1222 may be configured to generate digital asset(s) by linking the identifier(s) to the determined recycled content data. Digital asset generator 1222 may be configured to provide the generated digital asset(s) for access by one or more network node(s) of the decentral network 134. Providing the digital asset(s) may include generating a digital representation of the recycled content data. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the recycled content data or parts thereof, for example as described in the context of FIG. 7. The digital representation may include the identifier(s). The representation may point to the database storing the recycled content data. The representation may point to the decentral data providing node 122 associated with the data owner of the recycled content data, such as plastic toy producer 106. The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network for the identifier(s) to 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0425] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0426] 73 be discoverable and / or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network, for example as described in the context of FIG. 10. The digital asset(s) may be stored in a database associated with the data owner of the digital asset(s), such as the plastic product producer. The database may be accessible for the data owner. The data owner may control access to the database, for example via the decentral identifier(s) included in the digital asset(s). By generating and providing recycled content data associated with the recycled content of plastic products and / or parts thereof produced by plastic product production plant 1216, such recycled content may be made transparent to downstream participants of the ecosystem. This transparency allows downstream participants to reduce their environmental impact by using input materials associated with a high recycled content. This way, the overall environmental impact of the product ecosystem including plastic products and / or parts thereof may be reduced.

[0427] FIG. 13 illustrates example data structures used for producing new plastic products and / or parts thereof at least in part from recycled material based on recycled material data accessible by way of a decentral network interface. The plastic products and / or parts thereof may include plastic toys, plastic toy parts, plastic shoe parts and / or plastic furniture parts.

[0428] The example data structures may be based on recycled material data. The data structure may be generated based on material composition data associated with the material composition of the recycled material and / or recycled material history data related to the history of the recycled material. With reference to FIG. 12, the material composition data and / or the recycled material history data may be retrieved based on decentral identifier(s) associated with the recycled material 114 from decentral network nodes associated with participants of the decentral network 134 illustrated in FIG. 1 . The recycled material passport(s) including the material composition data and / or the recycled material history data may be retrieved per recycled material fraction or batch from the decentral network node(s) associated with participant(s) of the decentral network 134 that own the respective recycled material passport(s). For example, the recycled material passports associated with recyclate 1 912 to recyclate 3 1316 may be retrieved from the decentral network 134 as described in the context of FIG. 5 and FIG. 7. The recycled material passports may specify the material composition per recyclate or recycled material.

[0429] The pre-defined classification may be configured to reject polymer containing recycled materials with a level of contaminants, such as contaminants described in the context of FIG. 7, above a threshold value, e.g. contaminant mass fraction above 0%, and / or polymer containing recycled materials associated with property data not matching target property data. Rejecting the polymer containing recycled materials may include not providing such recycled materials for production of the plastic products and / or parts thereof. Rejecting the polymer containing recycled materials may include not using recycled material data, such as recycled material identifiers, for generation of feed data packages, such as illustrated in FIG. 13 for recyclate 2 1308. This way, contamination of produced plastic products and / or parts thereof with contaminants included in the recycled material 114 may be avoided, ensuring that the produced plastic products and / or parts thereof fulfil strict regulations with respect to contaminants included in such plastic 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0430] 74 products and / or parts thereof. In addition, a negative influence of the use of recycled input material on the physical property / ies of the plastic products and / or parts thereof may be avoided due to the use of recycled input materials having insufficient physical properties. Based on the pre-defined classification, a reliable quality of the produced plastic products and / or parts thereof with respect to contaminant(s) included in such products and / or parts thereof as well as with respect to physical property / ies may be ensured despite the use of recycled material for the production of the plastic products and / or parts thereof.

[0431] In the example illustrated in FIG. 13, the pre-defined classification may be configured to aggregate recycled material identifiers associated with polymer containing recycled materials not including any contaminants, such as contaminants described in the context of FIG. 7, and containing a first class of pre-defined pigment type(s) in amounts above a threshold value, such as >10%, >8%, >6%, >4%, >2%, >1 %, into a first feed data package, such as feed data package 1. The feed data package may be associated with the recycled materials via the recycled material identifiers included in the feed data package. The pre-defined classification may be configured to aggregate recycled material identifiers associated with polymer containing recycled materials not including any contaminants, such as contaminants described in the context of FIG. 7, and containing a second class of pre-defined pigment type(s), such as white pigments, in amounts above a threshold value, such as >10%, >8%, >6%, >4%, >2%, >1 %, into a second feed data package, such as feed data package 2. The pre-defined classification may be configured to aggregate recycled material identifiers associated with polymer containing recycled materials without contaminants, with a level of a first pigment type above a threshold value, such as >10%, >8%, >6%, >4%, >2%, >1 %, >0.5% and with a level of a second pigment type below a threshold value, such as <10%, <8%, <6%, <4%, <2%, <1 %, <0.5% into a further feed data package (not shown in FIG. 13). In another example, the pre-defined classification may be configured to aggregate recycled material identifiers associated with polymer containing recycled materials not including any contaminants, such as contaminants described in the context of FIG. 7, and containing predefined polymer foam types into a different feed data packages. This way the quality of the produced plastic products and / or parts thereof can be increased with respect to the property / ies of the produced plastic products or parts thereof..

[0432] As illustrated in FIG. 13 the identifiers of recycled materials may be assigned to feed data package identifiers. The pre-defined classification may be used for producing new plastic products and / or parts thereof by a plastic product production plant, such as the production plant 1216 described in the context of FIG. 12. Based on the recycled material identifiers and further input material identifiers included in the feed package data, plastic products and / or parts thereof may be produced. The recycled material data and input material data associated with further input materials may be used to determine plastic product data, such as recycled material composition data and / or plastic product history data. The recycled material composition data may be generated by aggregating material composition data per recycled 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0433] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0434] 75 material associated via the recycled material identifier with the feed data package. The toy history data may be generated by aggregating recycled material history data per recycled material associated via the recycled material identifier with the feed data package. The recycled material data may be used to generate the plastic product data. Toy identifier(s) may be assigned to the plastic products and / or parts thereof produced from respective input materials. This way not only the recycling process but also the production process for producing new plastic products and / or parts thereof may be monitored and / or controlled. In addition, this allows to access plastic product data via the decentral network 134 based on the plastic product IDs to monitor and / or control recycling of plastic waste products, such as plastic waste toys, plastic waste toy parts, plastic waste shoe parts and / or plastic waste furniture parts, based on the accessed plastic product data.

[0435] FIG. 14 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for controlling production of plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof at least in part from recycled input material. The plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof may include plastic toy(s), plastic toy part(s), plastic shoe part(s) and / or plastic furniture part(s).

[0436] With reference to FIG. 12, the input materials may include an identification element associated with a decentral identifier per input material, such as per batch of received input material. The input material may include recycled material 114. The identification element may be detected, for example as described in relation to FIG. 4. The decentral identifier per input material may be provided based on such detection, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4. Based on the input material identifier, the decentral identifier may be gathered as described in the context of FIG. 5.

[0437] Returning to FIG. 14 and with continued reference to FIG. 12, input material data associated with the input materials may be gathered by accessing decentral network nodes of the decentral network 134, that are associated with data owners of the input material data such as illustrated in the context of FIG. 1. The decentral network node(s) may be decentral data providing node(s) 120, 128 associated with chemical product producer 104 and / or plastic recycler 112. Input material data may relate to an input material composition and / or an input material history, for example as described in the context of FIG. 12. Input material data may include recycled material data. The recycled material data may relate to recycled material composition and / or recycled material history, for example as described in the context of FIG. 12.

[0438] For example, the polymer(s), polymer type(s) and / or contaminant(s) present in the recycled material 114 may be provided by the decentral network node 128 associated with the plastic recycler 112. Further for example, the polymer(s), polymer type(s), additive(s) and / or additive type(s) present in the composition(s) containing polymer(s) may be provided by the decentral network node 120 associated with the chemical product producer 104. Further for example, the origin, application and / or use of the recycled material 114 and composition(s) containing polymer(s) may be provided by the decentral network node 120, 128 associated with the chemical product producer 104 and / or plastic recycler 112. To provide material composition data of the input materials from decentral network node(s) 118 to 124, the decentral 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0439] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0440] 76 identifier(s) associated with the input materials may be linked to decentral identifiers associated with physical entities of the inputs used to produce the input materials, such as the recycled material, for example as described in the context of FIG. 7.

[0441] Property data associated with the recycled material(s) may be determined, this step being generally optional. The property data may include at least one measured chemical and / or physical property of the recycled material data and / or at least one chemical and / or physical property of the recycled material determined from measured data. The property data may be determined by measuring the chemical and / or physical property / ies and / or by determining the chemical and / or physical property / ies based on measured data. The property data may be provided from a database storing such property data. The property data may be provided based on the recycled material identifier(s) associated with the recycled material(s).

[0442] Target property data associated with a target property / ies of the plastic products and / or the parts thereof may be provided. The target property data may relate to plastic product type(s) and / or plastic product part type(s). The target property data may be interrelated with a plastic product identifier associated with the plastic product or part thereof. The target property data may be interrelated with a plastic product identifier associated with a plastic product type or a plastic product part type. The target property data may include chemical property / ies and / or physical property / ies of plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof, for example as described in the context of FIG. 12.

[0443] The feed data may be generated based on the input material data and the target property data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 12. The feed data may be generated based on the input material data, the property data associated with the recycled material and the target property data. The feed data may be generated based on production order data associated with the plastic product production. The production order data may include plastic product identifier(s) of plastic product(s) or parts thereof to be produced by the plastic product production plant 1216 (see FIG. 12). In addition or alternatively, the production order data may plastic product toy identifier(s) of plastic product type(s) or plastic product part type(s) to be produced by the plastic product production plant 1216. The feed data may be generated based on instructions configured to match the input material data to the target property data per plastic product type and / or per plastic product part type. The instructions may be configured to match the input material data and the property data associated with the recycled material 114 to the target property data. The instructions may be configured to generate a matching score indicating a degree of matching between the input material data and the target property data. The instructions may be configured to generate a matching score indicating a degree of matching between the input material data and property data and the target property data. The instructions may be configured to select input material identifier(s) of input material(s) associated with the highest degree of matching. Through matching the input material data accessed via the decentral network 134 for input materials including recycled material 114 with target property data based on the classification instructions, plastic products or parts thereof fulfilling strict regulations in terms of chemical and physical properties may be produced using recycled 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0444] 77 material 114. This way, the feed of input materials including recycled material may be tailored to fulfil strict requirements with respect to chemical and physical properties as well as appearance, hence enabling loop material flows despite requiring a low level or absence of contaminants as well as a high quality in terms of appearance and mechanical properties of the plastic products or parts thereof. Increasing the amount of recycled material that can be used to produce new plastic products or parts thereof allows to improve the environmental impact of the plastic product production and hence also the environmental impact of the product ecosystem including the plastic products.

[0445] The feed data may be generated by determining mixture data specifying recycled material and further input material(s) to be mixed prior to providing the mixed input material to the plastic product production process. Mixture data may be generated based on material composition data of the recycled material and further input materials and the target property data. Mixture data may be generated by determining weighted quantities of input material(s) depending on the one property or more properties per input material and the target property data. Generating mixture data may include determining weighted quantities of input materials depending on the material composition data per input material. Generating mixture data may include determining weighted quantities of input materials depending on the target property data. The weighted sum of at least part of the one property or more properties, such as polymer(s), polymer type(s), additive(s), contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s), per input material may be lower than or equal to property / ies included in the target property data. The mixture data may include machine-readable instructions for monitoring and / or controlling the preparation of the input material mixture, wherein the input material mixture is prepared based on the mixture data. The mixture data may specify multiple input materials including recycled material to be mixed and provided to the toy production process. The mixture data may relate to instructions for preparing the input material mixture. By blending recycled material(s) and further input material(s) in a targeted manner based on the requirements of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof produced from the blend of input materials, recycled materials can be used more effectively within the plastic product ecosystems while reliably managing the quality constraints regulations for the product product industry, such as the toy industry, the shoe industry or the furniture industry, impose on feedstocks. In particular, generating the mixture data for blending the recycled material(s) and further input material(s)based on target property data specific to the plastic product production, allows for reliable, effective and efficient usage of recycled materials as feedstocks to produce new plastic products and / or parts thereof.

[0446] The feed data may include feed data packages including input material identifier(s) of input materials(s) to be used for production of plastic products and / or parts thereof. The input material identifier(s) may include recycled material identifier(s). The feed data packages may include a collection of input material identifiers associated with input materials that result in plastic products and / or parts thereof fulfilling target property data. The feed data packages may be linked to a production order identifier. The feed data packages may be linked to plastic product identifier(s) associated with the plastic product(s) and / or parts 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0447] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0448] 78 thereof to be produced based on the feed package data. The feed data packages may indicate the use of the recycled material. The feed data may include input material identifiers associated with input materials to be used within a production step and an associated production order identifier. The processing of input material(s) associated with a feed data package may be performed batch-wise to avoid a mixing of input material(s) associated with different feed data packages. The processing of input materials associated with different feed data packages may be performed in a continuous manner. The feed data may include instruction(s) defining the processing step(s) to be performed. The feed data may include instruction(s) for mixing at least two input material(s), such as recycled material 114 and / or composition(s) containing polymer(s), to obtain input material and associated input material data which allows to fulfilling target property data. For instance, the level of contaminants and / or pigment(s) may be reduced by mixing recycled material(s) including a higher level of contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s) with recycled material(s) not containing such contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s) or containing lower levels of such contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s). Likewise, the level of contaminants and / or pigment(s) may be reduced by mixing recycled material(s) including a higher level of contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s) with composition(s) containing polymer(s) not including such contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s) or containing lower levels of such contaminant(s) and / or pigment(s).

[0449] The generated feed data may be provided for producing plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof at least in part using recycled material(s) as input material(s). Providing the feed data may include providing the feed data to a plastic product production plant for monitoring and / or controlling the production of plastic products and / or parts thereof based on the feed data.

[0450] Toy data may be determined based on the feed data, this step being generally optional. The plastic product data may be determined based on the feed data and operation data associated with the plants performing the step(s) for producing plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof from the input material(s). The operation data may include an output product yield of each plant, a total plastic product / plastic product part yield of the production process, a plastic product / plastic product part yield or amount per defined time period or any combination thereof. The plastic product yield may define the percentage of plastic product obtained from a production step or production process with respect to the amount of input material provided to such step or process. Likewise, the product part yield may define the percentage of plastic product part obtained from a production step or production process with respect to the amount of input material provided to such step or process. Use of operation data may allow to reliably determine the toy data for continuous production processes. Additional data associated with the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof may be aggregated with the toy data. Additional data may include emission data, production data, recycled content data, renewable content data, bio-based content data, biodegradability data, safety data, handling instructions, recycling instructions or combinations thereof.

[0451] The plastic product data may be generated by aggregating the input material data based on the feed data. At least a part of the input material data may be converted to plastic product data based on the feed 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0452] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0453] 79 data. For example, the material composition data per input material may be aggregated by composition, compounds contained in the input material and / or their respective quantities, such as amounts. Further for example, the input material history per input material may be aggregated to signify the origin, application, and / or use of the plastic product(s) and / or the parts thereof. This may include origin such as specific manufacturers. This may include application types such as toys, child toys, shoes, shoe parts, furniture, furniture parts, or the like. This may include uses in toy industry, non-toy industry, shoe-industry, non-shoe industry, furniture industry or non-furniture industry. By determining plastic product data based on the feed data and optionally operation data in a data-driven manner, time-consuming and error-prone analytics of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof to determine the composition of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof can be avoided. This way, a more efficient and reliable determination of the composition of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof may be enabled, allowing a more efficient monitoring and / or controlling of the use and / or recycling of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof based on the composition of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof. In addition, this allows a more efficient steering of recycled material flows based on existing requirements with respect to the composition of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, hence improving the amount of recycled material that can be used to produce new plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof.

[0454] The plastic product data may be linked to the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, this step being generally optional. The plastic product data may be linked to the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof via a plastic product identifier. The plastid product identifier may be associated with the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof. The plastic product identifier may be a decentral identifier. The decentral identifier may be discoverable and / or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network. Linking the plastic product data to the plastic product (s) and / or parts thereof may include generating a plastic product passport, for example as described in the context of FIG. 12.

[0455] The plastic product data may be provided for access to decentral network node(s) of decentral network 134. The plastic product data may be provided via the decentral network 134 based on the decentral identifier(s) associated with the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof. The plastic product data may be accessible at the plastic product data owner, such as plastic product producer, via the decentral network 134 based on the decentral identifier(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 5. The plastic product data may be provided by the decentral network node 122 associated with the plastic product producer. The toy data may be provided under control of the data owner of the plastic product data. The plastic product passport may be associated with a digital representation of the plastic product data or parts thereof. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the plastic product data, for example as described in the context of FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. The digital representation may further include the decentral identifier. The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network for the decentral identifier to be discoverable and / or accessible for participant nodes of the decentral network, for example as described in the context of FIG. 10. The plastic product passport may be stored 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0456] 80 in a database associated with the data owner, such as the plastic product producer, for access by data consumer(s), such as plastic product users and / or EOL collector / sorter 110 and / or plastic recycler 112. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner based on the decentral identifier(s) of the plastic product passport. Access to the database may be controlled via the decentral identifier (see for example FIG. 5). The plastic product data may be accessed by the decentral data consuming service of the decentral network node 124, 126, 128 associated with the plastic toy user 108, EOL collector / sorter 110 and / or plastic recycler 112.

[0457] FIG. 15 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for monitoring the environmental impact of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof produced at least in part from recycled material. The plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof may include plastic toy(s), plastic toy part(s), plastic shoe part(s) and / or plastic furniture part(s). The environmental impact may relate to the recycled content contained in the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof. The plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof may be produced at least in part from recycled materials as described in the context of FIG. 12 to FIG. 14.

[0458] The plastic product(s) and / or the part(s) thereof may be produced at least in part from recycled material(s). The plastic product(s) and / or the part(s) thereof may be produced at least in part from the recycled material(s) as described in the context of FIG. 11. The recycled material may be produced by recycling plastic waste fraction(s) containing or consisting of plastic waste toy(s) and / or parts thereof, plastic waste shoe part(s) or plastic waste furniture part(s), for example as described in the context of FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 . The plastic waste fraction(s) may have been sorted according to the methods or by the systems described in the context of FIG. 4 and FIG. 7. The waste toy(s) and / or parts thereof may have been produced by one or more toy producers 106. The waste toy(s) and / or parts thereof may include thermoplastic elastomers. The waste shoe part(s) may have been produced by one or more shoe producers. The waste shoe part(s) may include at least one polymer foam. The waste furniture part(s) may have been produced by one or more furniture producers. The waste furniture part(s) may include at least one polymer foam.

[0459] Identifier(s) associated with produced plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof may be provided. The identifier(s) may be digital identifier(s). The identifier(s) may be linked to the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof. The identifier(s) may be linked to plastic product data associated with the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof. The identifier(s) may be decentral identifier(s). The identifier(s) may be provided via a user interface. The identifier(s) may be provided from a database storing identifier(s) associated with produced plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof.

[0460] Production data associated with the production of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof may be provided based on the identifier(s). Production data may include feed data associated with the feed of input material(s) used to produce the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof. The feed data may be generated as described in the context of FIG. 14. The feed data may include recycled material identifier(s) 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text BASF Coatings GmbH

[0461] 81 and associated amount(s) of recycled material, a production order identifier and plastic product identifier(s) associated with the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof to be produced based on the feed data. The feed data may further include identifiers of further input materials used to produce the plastic products and / or parts thereof and associated amount(s) of such further input materials. The production data may be gathered from a database storing such production data based on the identifier(s) associated with the plastic product and / or the part thereof.

[0462] The recycled content data associated with the produced plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof may be determined based on the production data. The recycled content may be determined based on the amount of recycled material and optionally further input material(s) used to produce the plastic product(s) and / or the parts thereof. Based on identifier(s) associated with the further input material(s), recycled content data associated with such input material(s) may be determined from input material data accessed via the decentral network 134, for example as described in the context of FIG. 5 and FIG. 14. The recycled content may be determined by determining the fraction of recycled content used to produce the plastic product and / or the part thereof to the total amount or weight of produced plastic product and / or the part thereof based on the production data. The fraction of the recycled content may be determined from the sum of the amount of recycled material and the amount of recycled material contained within the further input materials. The amount of recycled material contained within the further input materials may be determined from the recycled content data included in data associated with such further input materials. The recycled content data may be determined by aggregating the recycled material data with recycled content data included in input material data associated with the further input materials based on the amount(s) of recycled material and further input material(s) used to produce the plastic toy and / or the part thereof. Recycled content data may relate to or include the recycled content as described in the context of FIG. 12.

[0463] A digital asset including the identifier(s) and the recycled content data may be generated. The digital asset may be generated by linking the identifier(s) associated with produced plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof with the recycled content data. The digital asset may be part of a plastic product passport associated with the plastic product and / or the part thereof. The digital asset may be stored in a database associated with the data owner of the digital asset, such as plastic product producer. Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner, for example via the identifier(s). Access to the database may be controlled by the data owner via a decentral data providing node associated with the database.

[0464] The produced plastic product and / or part thereof may be provided in association with the generated digital asset. The generated digital asset may be provided for access by one or more decentral network nodes of the decentral network. The decentral network nodes may be associated with one of more participants of the decentral network 134. Providing the digital asset for access may include generating a digital representation of the recycled content data. The digital representation may include a representation for accessing the recycled content data. The digital representation may further include the identifier(s). The 240634W001 - Secondary Filing Text

[0465] BASF Coatings GmbH

[0466] 82 representation may point to the database storing the recycled content data. The representation may point to the decentral data providing node associated with the database. The digital representation may be provided to the decentral network for the identifier(s) to be discoverable and / or accessible by the decentral network nodes of the decentral network, for example as described in the context of FIG. 10.

[0467] By generating a digital asset including the recycled content data, the environmental property of the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof produced by the plastic product production can be made transparent to customers using the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof. This transparency provides an efficient way to track environmental attributes in plastic product production and allows to produce plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof with positive environmental impact. This way, the environmental impact of the product ecosystem including the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof may also be reduced.

[0468] The present disclosure has been described in conjunction with preferred embodiments and examples as well. However, other variations can be understood and effected by those persons skilled in the art and practicing the claimed invention, from the studies of the drawings, this disclosure and the claims.

[0469] Any steps presented herein can be performed in any order. The methods disclosed herein are not limited to a specific order of these steps. It is also not required that the different steps are performed at a certain place or in a certain computing node of a distributed system, i.e. each of the steps may be performed at different computing nodes using different equipment / data processing.

[0470] As used herein ..determining" also includes ..initiating or causing to determine", “generating" also includes ..initiating and / or causing to generate" and “providing” also includes “initiating or causing to determine, generate, select, send and / or receive”. “Initiating or causing to perform an action” includes any processing signal that triggers a computing node or device to perform the respective action.

[0471] In the claims as well as in the description the word “comprising” or “including” or similar wording does not exclude other elements or steps and shall not be construed limiting to the elements or steps lined out. The indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in the mutual different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used in an advantageous implementation or further elements may be included.

[0472] Providing in the scope of this disclosure may include any interface configured to provide data. This may include an application programming interface, a human-machine interface such as a display and / or a software module interface. Providing may include communication of data or submission of data to the interface, in particular display to a user or use of the data by the receiving entity.

Claims

240634W001 - Secondary Filing TextBASF Coatings GmbH83CLAIMS1 . A method for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein the one or more waste article(s) are selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the method comprising the steps of: detecting at least one identifier element per waste article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the waste article; providing the decentral identifier associated with the one or more waste article(s) and providing based on the decentral identifier material composition data and / or article history data, wherein the material composition data and / or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network; generating fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) by assigning the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data and / or article history data to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are pre-determined waste fraction(s) relating to polymer type(s), range(s) for polymer quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the waste article, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the waste article or any combinations thereof; providing the generated fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the polymer(s) are selected from polyethylene(s) (PE), low density polyethylene(s) (LDPE), linear LDPE (LLDPE), high density polyethylene(s) (HDPE), polyoxmethylene(s) (POM), polypropylene(s) (PP), polyamide(s) (PA), poly ethylene terephthalate(s) (PET), poly butylene terephthalate(s) (PBT), acrylnitril-butadiene-styrene(s) (ABS), polymethylmethacrylate(s) (PMMA), polyurethane(s) (PU), thermoplastic polyurethane(s) (TPU), viscoelastic polyurethanes (VPU), polystyrene(s) (PS), polylactic acid(s) (PLA), polyvinylchloride(s) (PVC), polycarbonate(s) (PC), thermoplastic elastomer(s) (TPE), ethylenevinyl acetate copolymer(s) (EVA), isoprene polymers, or any mixtures thereof.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the thermoplastic elastomer(s) are selected from styrene block copolymers, such as Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene (SBS) and Styrene-Ethylene-Butylene-Styrene (SEBS), thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV), copolyester elastomers (COPE) produced by copolymerizing polyester(s) with diol(s), thermoplastic olefins (TPO) and / or combinations thereof.

4. The method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein at least one of the plastic waste fraction(s) includes or consists of the plastic toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof and / or wherein at least one of the240634W001 - Secondary Filing TextBASF Coatings GmbH84 plastic waste fraction(s) includes or consists of the plastic shoe part(s) and / or wherein at least one of the plastic waste fraction(s) includes or consists of the plastic furniture part(s).

5. The method of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the pre-determined plastic waste fraction(s) relate to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) to be processed by a chemical recycling process to produce a hydrocarbon recyclate for use in a petrochemical process, a chemical recycling process to produce a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide for use in a hydrogen-based chemical process, a chemical recycling process to produce a monomer and / or polymer recyclate for use in a polymer, component and / or plastic product production process, a solvent-based recycling process to produce a monomer and / or polymer recyclate for used in a polymer, component and / or plastic product production process, and / or a mechanical recycling process to produce a polymer recyclate for use in a component and / or plastic product production process.

6. The method of any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein assigning the one or more waste article(s) to the pre-defined waste fraction(s) includes classification of the one or more waste article(s) according to classification instructions relating material composition data and / or article history data to the one or more pre-defined plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the classification instructions are configured to assign the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data per waste article and / or the article history data per waste article to the pre-defined plastic waste fraction(s).

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein assigning the one or more waste article(s) to the pre-defined waste fraction(s) includes providing classification instructions by one or more decentral network node(s) associated with one or more producer(s) performing petrochemical or refinery processes using a hydrocarbon recyclate as input material, performing hydrogen-based chemical processes using a recyclate mixture including at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide as input material, and / or performing plastic product production processes using a polymer recyclate as input material.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the material composition data relates to a chemical composition specifying the chemical compound(s) contained in the waste article(s), wherein the chemical compound(s) include monomer(s), monomer type(s), polymer(s), polymer type(s), additive(s), additive type(s), pigment(s), pigment type(s), substance(s) and / or substance type(s) impeding the processing of the article(s) and / or substance(s) and / or substance type(s) impeding the use of a recyclate obtained from recycling the article(s).240634W001 - Secondary Filing TextBASF Coatings GmbH859. The method of any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the article history data relates to a use, an application and / or an origin of the waste article(s).

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the material composition data and / or article history data associated with the one or more waste article(s) is gathered per waste article and aggregated to fraction data including fraction composition data and / or fraction history data.11 . The method of claim 11 , wherein a fraction identifier is provided and the fraction data including fraction composition data and / or fraction history data is assigned to the fraction identifier, wherein the fraction identifier includes at least one decentral fraction identifier, wherein the decentral fraction identifier and a digital representation of the fraction data is provided for access by one or more decentral network node(s) of the decentral network.

12. An apparatus for sorting a plastic waste stream, in particular a mixed plastic waste stream, wherein the plastic waste stream includes one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein the one or more waste article(s) are selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the apparatus comprising: an identifier reader configured to detect at least one identifier element per waste article, wherein the at least one identifier element is related to at least one decentral identifier associated with the waste article; a decentral network communication interface configured to provide the decentral identifier associated with the one or more waste article(s) and providing based on the decentral identifier material composition data and / or article history data, wherein the material composition data and / or article history data is provided based on the provided decentral identifier by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network; a control signal generator configured to generate fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to one or more plastic waste fraction(s) by assigning the one or more waste article(s) based on the material composition data and / or article history data to the one or more plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the one or more plastic waste fraction(s) are predetermined waste fraction(s) relating to polymer type(s), range(s) for polymer quantity per type, specific compounds contained in the waste article, the exclusion of specific compounds contained in the waste article or any combinations thereof; a control interface configured to provide the generated fraction control data for sorting the one or more waste article(s) to the assigned plastic waste fraction(s).

13. A method for controlling recycling of sorted plastic waste fraction(s), wherein the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) include one or more waste article(s) containing polymer(s) and wherein at least one of the sorted waste fractions includes waste article(s) selected from toy(s) and / or part(s) thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), the method comprising the steps of:240634W001 - Secondary Filing TextBASF Coatings GmbH86 providing decentral identifier (s)associated with the one or more sorted plastic waste fraction(s), providing by one or more network node(s) of a decentral network fraction data associated with the sorted plastic waste fraction(s) based on the decentral identifier, wherein the fraction data includes fraction composition data and / or fraction history data, providing target property data associated with at least one target property of a recycled material obtained from recycling at least one of the sorted plastic waste fractions, generating feed data for feeding the one or more sorted plastic waste fraction(s) to a recycling plant for recycling the waste article(s) contained in such sorted plastic waste fraction(s) based on the fraction data and the provided target composition data, providing the generated feed data for recycling of the waste article(s) contained in the sorted plastic waste fraction(s).

14. A method for controlling a production of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, wherein the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof include plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s), wherein the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof are produced from input material by a production and wherein at least a part of the input material includes recycled material, the method comprising the steps of: providing decentral identifier(s) associated with the input material, providing - based on the decentral identifier(s) - input material data associated with the input material from one or more network node(s) of a decentral network, wherein the input material data includes input material composition data and / or input material history data, providing target property data associated with target property / ies of the plastic toys and / or parts thereof, generating feed data for feeding the input material to the production for producing the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof based on the input material data and the provided target property data, providing the generated feed data for producing plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof by the production.

15. A method for monitoring an environmental impact of plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, wherein the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof include plastic toy(s) and / or parts thereof, shoe part(s) and / or furniture part(s) and wherein the plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof are produced at least in part from recycled material, the method comprising the steps of: producing the plastic product(s) and / or part(s) thereof at least in part from recycled material, providing identifier(s) associated with plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, providing production data associated with a production of the plastic product(s) and / or the part(s) thereof based on the identifier(s),240634W001 - Secondary Filing TextBASF Coatings GmbH87 determining - based on the production data - recycled content data associated with the produced plastic product(s) and / or parts thereof, generating a digital asset including the identifier(s) and the recycled content data, providing the produced plastic product(s) or part(s) thereof in association with the generated digital asset, wherein the generated digital asset is provided for access by one or more decentral network nodes of a decentral network.

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