COLLECTION AND SORTING FOR RECYCLING

In contrast to virgin plastics, used material for recycling emanates from several sources such as municipal solid waste (MSW), automotive dismantlers. 

The efficiency of collection and sorting structures is measured by collection costs, capture rate and purity of generated feedstock. Some current methods of collecting discarded plastic products are displayed in Table 3.1. In kerbside collection households are given directives on at what level they should sort their waste, whereas drop-off and buy-back centres have specifications on what waste types are accepted. 

Method Capture rate Labput/trai ort costs Purity of capture 

Typically, material collected by one of the methods in Table 3.1 is transported by truck to a material recovery facility (MRF), where a second sorting eliminates major contaminants, mixed grades and colours of plastics and unrecyclable material. Thereafter, recyclables are baled and transported to a reprocessor where they are granulated, washed, further separated and repelletised before transport to the end-user. 

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