Postconsumer recycle products

Identification of the materials of construction (i.e., plastics, paper, metal, glass, elastomers, coatings, adhesives, and other such materials) should be identified by a specific product designation (code name and/or code number) and the source (name of the manufacturer) alternate materials of construction should be indicated postconsumer recycled plastic should not be used in the manufacture of a primary packaging component, and if it is used for a secondary or associated component, then the safety and compatibility of the material for its intended use should be addressed appropriately... 

There are two types of recycling processes. One is preconsumer recycling and the other is postconsumer recycling. The preconsumer recycling involves raw materials, products, and by-products that have not reached a consumer for an intended end-use but they are typically reused within an original process. The postconsumer-recycled materials are those that have served their intended end-use and have been separated from solid waste for the purpose of recycling. 

Table 8 Some of the Markets and Products Made from Processing of Postconsumer Recycled Plastics...

Coextrusion blow molding is often used to produce multilayer plastic containers. A multilayer parison is produced, and subsequent operations are identical to ordinary blow molding. Reuse of flash is more difficult since it will be multilayer. In many cases, the flash is used in an inner layer in the container, either alone or combined with other recycled plastic. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) laundry product bottles, for example, routinely are made with a three-layer structure in which the inner layer contains flash blended with postconsumer recycled HDPE. 

In 1992, IBM became the first major computer maker to code plastic parts for ease in identification for recycling. In 1999, IBM reported that 675,000 pounds of PVC, ABS, and PC/ABS resins recovered from old computers were reused in its products in 1998. Nearly aU the internal plastic parts in IBM PCs were reported to have recycled content at about this time. The company s 2004 server brochure says that IBM uses recycled content resin into systems where technically possible and that several internal resin parts such as stiffeners, clips, and fillers use resin with pre- or postconsumer recycled content. ... 

There has been an increase in virgin resin production at the same time as the promotion of recycling. Postconsumer recyclables are of rather low value in the market place, competing with mass-produced and low-cost virgin materials therefore, the manufacture of virgin plastics has considerably outstripped plastic recycling. 

The melt processing of postconsumer waste is not limited to PET, and this process can also be applied to PP, PE and poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) products that can be reprocessed in to pellets and fibres with ease. Alongside direct polymer-to-web production, staple fibres produced from recycled products are readily available and are commonly formed into nonwovens. 

In the beverage industry, the introduction of the first plastic bottles by Coca Cola included a commitment to postconsumer recycling (PCR). The bottles were called Easy Goer and the Monsanto product/ material name was Cycle Safe. ... 

Over 4 billion PETP bottles will be available for colleetion across Europe in 1999. PUR Products has introduced technology into the UK which involves glycolysis of postconsumer PETP into materials for the manufacture of rigid urethane foams for building insulation. This application offers a substantial new market for aromatic polyester polyols derived from glycolised PETP recyclate. PUR(PRODUCTS)LTD. 

Contaminants in recycled plastic packaging waste (HDPE, PP) were identified by MAE followed by GC-MS analysis [290]. Fragrance and flavour constituents from first usage were detected. Recycled material also contained aliphatic hydrocarbons, branched alkanes and alkenes, which are also found in virgin resins at similar concentration levels. Moreover, aromatic hydrocarbons, probably derived from additives, were found. Postconsumer PET was also analysed by Soxhlet extraction and GC-MS most of the extracted compounds (30) were thermally degraded products of additives and polymers, whereas only a few derived from the original contents... 

Freeman Chemical uses about 25 million lb of postconsumer PET bottles and film scrap to make polyols for the production of rigid foams. The company estimates that more than 50% of the laminate foam insulation used for construction is made from recycled material. 

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