Packaging mechanical recycling

With reference to the latest UK government s attempts to tackle the problem of the disposal and/or recycling of packaging waste, comments are reported from Cameron McLatchie, chief executive of British Polythene Industries. He calls for a landfill levy and increased use of incineration with energy recovery. According to recent studies, the capacity for mechanical recycling is presently insufficient. Statistics relating to waste production are included and the case for incineration in the UK is propounded. 

The recycling of PET is an important environmental topic as well as a commercial opportunity due to its widespread use, abundance and availability in bottles, packaging and fibres. While mechanical recycling of PET is now well established, newer chemical recycling techniques rely on depolymerization routes which cleave the polymer chains into new monomer building blocks (see Chapter 16). 

Mechanical recycling is one of the main targets of the EU Directive 94/62/ EEC on packaging and packaging waste [9]. Recycled packaging materials... 

Figure 13.36. Cost-benefit analysis for mechanical recycling of plastics packaging from households in Austria 1996 (/t collected material [21]).

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