Recycled pellets produced with EREMA's VOLEX technology carry volatile organic compound (VOC) content up to 75% lower than the input material — the performance figure that earned the Austrian machinery manufacturer the Plastics Recycling Award Europe 2026 in the "Recycling Machinery Innovation" category.

The awards jury, convened at the Plastics Recycling Show Europe (PRSE) in Amsterdam on 5–6 May 2026, recognised VOLEX for a substantial leap in degassing performance for mechanical plastics recycling. Plastics Recyclers Europe and Crain Communications, the show's organiser, jointly present the awards.

Clemens Kitzberger, Business Development Manager Post Consumer at the EREMA Group, accepted the prize in Amsterdam.

How large are the degassing gains?

The headline numbers compare against EREMA's own benchmarks:

• VOC content in VOLEX pellets runs up to 40% lower than output from EREMA's INTAREMA® TVEplus® degassing system.
• VOC content sits up to 75% lower than in the input material itself.
• Fogging effects — a persistent quality issue in injection moulding applications — are also significantly reduced, according to the jury.

The jury framed VOLEX as a technological advancement that directly addresses increasingly stringent requirements on recycled materials destined for demanding applications.

What does the PPWR have to do with it?

Kitzberger tied the technology squarely to Europe's regulatory calendar, not to general sustainability framing.

"We are delighted to receive this award. With the VOLEX technology, we are addressing concrete market requirements in post-consumer recycling that arise from the PPWR and other regulatory frameworks," Kitzberger said.

He added: "What is crucial is the ability to implement high regranulate qualities in a scalable and economically viable way. We see clear added value for our customers in being able to supply more recycled content for higher-value end products."

The PPWR reference matters for converters and recycler fleets alike: recycled-content mandates push demand toward regranulate grades clean enough for higher-value end products, where VOC and fogging performance decide marketability.

From K 2025 launch to two configurations

EREMA first unveiled VOLEX, in its water-stripping configuration, at K 2025 in Düsseldorf. Since that market introduction, the company has refined the process using feedback from operating experience and a series of material trials.

The result is a second configuration: VOLEX is now also available without water injection, letting recycling operators choose the setup that matches their specific operational requirements — a flexibility point for plant specifiers weighing water use and process fit.

What to watch next

The award confirms commercial availability of both configurations as of May 2026. The milestone that will decide uptake is not the trophy but the order book: how quickly post-consumer PET, PO and other regranulate producers adopt VOLEX lines to meet PPWR-driven recycled-content targets ahead of the regulation's application deadlines.