Recycling and resource recovery

Identification, segregation, gathering

Since plastics used in packaging form a highly visible part (approximately 20 percent by volume but less than 10 percent by weight) of the waste stream, most recycling efforts have focused on containers. Almost all bottles, food trays, cups, and dishes made of the major commodity plastics now bear an identifying number enclosed in a triangle together with an abbreviation.

In addition to such labeling, in many localities consumers are encouraged to return empty beverage containers to the place of purchase by being required to pay a deposit on each unit at the time of purchase. This system helps to solve two of the major problems associated with economical recycling, since the consumer seeking return of the deposit does the sorting and the stores gather the plastics into central locations. An added attraction of deposit laws is a notable decrease in roadside litter. However, while such measures have helped to raise dramatically the recycling rate of plastic bottles—especially those made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE)—less than 10 percent of all plastic products are recycled after first use. (On the other hand, most plastics are used in long-term applications such as construction, appliances, and home furnishings, for which efficient recycling is difficult.)

Economic recovery of value

In general, thermoplastic materials can be recycled more readily than thermosets. Still, there are inherent limitations on the recycling of even these materials. First, a recyclable plastic may be contaminated by nonplastics or by different polymers making up the original product. Even within a single polymer type, there are differences in molecular weight. For instance, a supplier of polystyrene may produce a material of high molecular weight for sheet-formed food trays, since that forming process favours a high melt viscosity and elasticity. At the same time, the supplier may offer a low-molecular-weight polystyrene for the injection molding of disposable dinnerware, since injection molding works best with a melt of low viscosity and very little elasticity. If the polymers from both types of product are mixed in a recycling operation, the mixed material will not be very suitable for either of the original applications.

Another complication to the recycling of plastics is the mixing together of pigments or dyes of different colours, and yet another is the problem of quality control. Almost all plastics change either slightly or greatly as a result of initial fabrication and use. Some, for instance, undergo changes in molecular weight due to cross-linking or chain scission (breaking of the chemical bonds that hold a polymer chain together). Others undergo oxidation, another common reaction that can also change the properties of a plastic.

For all the foregoing reasons, recycled plastics will almost always have certain disadvantages in comparison to unrecycled plastics. Most thermoplastics are therefore recycled into somewhat less-demanding applications. HDPE from thin-walled grocery bags, for example, may be converted into thick-walled flowerpots; polyvinyl chloride (PVC) recovered from bottles may be used in traffic cones; and PET recovered from beverage bottles may be washed, dried, and melt-spun into fibrous filling for pillows and clothing. Waste plastics that cannot be separated by polymer type can be made into plastic “lumber,” extruded slabs that are suitable for applications such as industrial flooring and park benches. Owing to its heterogeneous composition, plastic lumber is inherently weaker than the original polymers. Other recycling processes that make use of mixed plastics are pyrolysis, which converts the solids into a petroleum-like substance, and direct incineration, which can provide energy for power plants or industrial furnaces.

Despite the difficulties in making the recycling of plastics economically attractive on a large scale, many successful processes have been developed for more narrowly defined “niche” applications. Automotive suppliers have found it feasible to recycle polyurethanes from the insides of panels and dashboards if proper attention is paid to the design of the original materials. The polycarbonates widely used in compact discs have been recovered and effectively reused. The polypropylene casings of automobile batteries can be recovered economically during lead-recycling operations and then remolded for the same application. Some manufacturers depolymerize PET by hydrolysis or methanolysis; the resulting materials can be purified by distillation and then repolymerized.

In most plastic recycling operations, the first step after sorting is to chop and grind the plastic into chips, which are easier to clean and handle in subsequent steps. The chips commonly are first washed in order to remove nonplastic items such as labels, caps, and adhesives. If the material comes from a narrowly defined source, it may be possible to dry the washed chips and immediately extrude them into molding pellets or even to extrude them directly into fibres. For “mixed-waste” polymers, automatic separation processes based on differences in density or solubility have been used to some extent.