Postconsumer recycled plastics, 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... 

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

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... 

B.A. Hegberg, Technologies for Recycling Postconsumer Mixed Plastics Emerging Plastic Lumber Production, Office of the Univ. of Illinois Center for Solid Waste Management and... 

Most end-use markets of recycled plastics require that they be separated by resin type and color. For postconsumer bottles, all lids, caps, and closures should also be removed because they are often of different colors, and made of different resins than the bottle. The goal of any sorting process is to obtain the highest purity, consistency, and quantity of a particular consumer resin type. This ensures the highest end-use value for new products incorporating substantial amounts of the recycled resin. 

When discussing many subjects it is important that they be properly identified by definitions such is the case in recycling. Different definitions exist to meet different industry and commercial requirements. ASTM defines a recycled plastics as those plastics composed of postconsumer material and recovered material only, or both, that may or may not have been subjected to additional processing steps of the types used to make products such as recycled regrind, or processed or reconstituted plastics. The industry scrap includes what is commonly referred to as trim or regrind in plastic production, is not considered recycled material. 

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. ... 

This book presents an overview of mixed plastics recycling technology. In addition it characterizes mixed plastics wastes, and describes collection methods, costs, and markets for reprocessed plastics products. While these studies were done for the State of Illinois, with the current national concern about recycling, the information presented will be of interest to anyone involved in municipal re( ciing, and the subsequent processing of postconsumer mixed plastics. 

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. 

Post-industrial recycled plastics occur in most plastic products, wherein the plastics from the sprues runners, extrudate, etc. are added back into the virgin plastic at the plastic manufacturing plant. Postconsumer resin (PCR) refers to plastics that were made into products, for example, bottles, bags, film, packaging, used by a consumer, collected by a waste disposal company, processed into recycled pellets at an MRF, where the recycled plastic parts are converted into recycled plastic pellets. The plastic pellets are then sold to plastic companies. 

Recychng single resin plastics from postindustrial or postconsumer sources typically utihzes standard processing equipment. Plastics are melted, extruded, pelletized, and then formed into a final product. Additives may be added that compensate for prior use, additional processing caused thermal histories or new product needs but the use of these additives is minimized to control the overall cost of the recycled plastic and thereby increase the overall profitability of the process. The next section addresses some of the technical issues associated with recychng specific individual plastic streams. 

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. ... 

Recycling of postconsumer plastics involves the process of collection, cleaning, separation, and then processing them into various products. These different steps will be elaborated in the following sections. 

---