Collection systems, plastic recycling

In the United States, recycling of HDPE bottles through curbside collection and dropoff systems is very common. According to the American Plastics Council, more than 20,000 American communities have access to plastics recycling. 

Collection of plastics for recycling often occurs as part of a system designed to collect a variety of materials, not just plastics. Similarly, initial processing, in which collected materials are separated by generic type, often occurs in a multimaterial recycling facility. 

The programs consisted of adding curbside collection of plastics to five existing routes 3 routes in the city of Minneapolis, 1 route in the city of Minnetonka and 1 route in three northwestern suburbs known as the Hennepin County Recycling Group (HRG). The three Minneapolis routes collected biweekly and the other two routes collected weekly. All methods utilized curbside sortation of material. The study duration was roughly three months. A summary of collection methods for each route is shown in Table 2.7. All field data were collected over a one month period by Cal Recovery Systems, Inc. 

Morrow, D., and Merriam, C. "Recycling - Collection Systems for Plastics in Municipal Solid Wastes - A New Raw Material" Proceedings of Society of Plastics Engineers RKTFC Conference - New Developments in Plastics Recycling. Charlotte, NC. 

Plastics, recycling n. A term embracing systems by which plastics materials that would otherwise immediately become solid wastes are collected, separated, or otherwise processed and returned to the economic mainstream in the form of useful raw materials or products. 

For plastics recycling (or recycling of other materials) to occur, three basic elements must be in place. First, there must be a system for collecting the targeted materials. Second, there must be a facility capable of processing the collected recyclables into a form which can be utilized by manufacturers to make a new product. Third, new products made in whole or part from the recycled material must be manufactured and sold. While the end uses differ substantially for different plastics, there are some similarities in collection and processing which can usefully be discussed in a generic fashion. 

Some recycling of polypropylene packaging is carried out, most often targeting bottles collected as part of an all plastic bottle collection system. Recycled resin from collected containers has been used in soap bottles. ... 

As windows are quite big building parts, a separate collecting system is worthwhile. Concerning the percentage of PVC in window frames, the recycling to retain plastic material in the material chain is cost effective. 

Mechanical recycling makes great sense for petroleum-based plastic and biobased plastics. Mechanical recycling has the appropriate recycling infrastructure established in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The recycling system requires a collection system for plastic products labeled as 1 through 7. 

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