Postconsumer packaging recovery

Recovery, and in particular recycling of postconsumer packaging wastes, does not stop further generation of wastes. First, not all the collected material is recycled and, second, the product made from the recycled material will end up being a waste sooner or later as well. As for incineration of postconsumer packages, it may mean a volume decrease of 20 to 40 percent. 

The EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste sets a recovery target for used packaging of 25% by 2001 and 50-65% by 2005. It is likely that recycling of postconsumer plastics will require substantial polymer/additive analyses. 

Special collection systems are generally provided for large-scale or commercial postconsumer applications such as for agricultural films, chemical containers, automotive parts, carpets, and polystyrene foam packaging. Since most of the plastic is collected as multimaterial or in commingled forms, the collected plastic waste has to be sorted, separated, and cleaned, and most of this is done at material recovery facilities (MRFs). 

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