Reclamation, plastics recycling

The Center for Plastics Recycling Research (CPRR) at Rutgers University was commissioned to develop a process for the reclamation of soda bottles that could be widely demonstrated and transferred to the public to spur increased recycling in this area. This was done because there are a number of companies in the U.S. which recycle PET soda bottles, but their methods are generally proprietary and not licensed ouL The Rutgers Beverage Bottle Reclamation Process (BBRP) is not meant to separate PET soda bottle colors or other type plastics, but rather to provide clean PET flake separated from caps, labels, base cups and adhesives. 

The forest products companies, on the other hand, see plastics as a way to expand sustainable forest resource utilization through the use of wood waste, fibers from underutilized species, and reclamation and recycling of wood, other agricultural species and waste, and paper materials from municipal solid waste streams (62), as well as a way to make new construction materials with attributes that wood does not have (56). 

A material is reclaimable when both a treatment technology and a market for the resulting new material are available [3]. This book concentrates on the reclamation and recycling of plastics. There are several options for how this can be done reuse, mechanical recycling, feedstock recycling and energy recovery. These are defined next. 

On land, too, there are changes in the way plastics are disposed of. In the UK some local authorities are actively promoting recycling of plastic bottles and poly(styrene) containers, for example by schemes where local residents place recyclable materials in designated boxes for refuse collectors. These boxes are taken to a Materials Reclamation Facility for final sorting of the plastics waste. 

The center initially concentrated on reclamation and reuse and developed a technology for the reclamation of postconsumer waste plastics. After only two years, CPRR published nearly 25 reports based on its research and held conferences to provide for transferring the technology. "We want to disseminate the information as widely and in as timely a fashion as we can to help develop the infrastructure that will cause plastics to be included in the recycling stream, says Morrow. 

Genpak, a plastic products manufacturer, and Mobil are in the process of opening and operating one of the first plants to recycle polystyrene foam items such as food containers, cups, and cutlery. The materials are being collected from Massachusetts schools and institutions by New England CRInc, a major reclamation firm and recycled materials end-use manufacturer. The plant has a capacity to recycle 3 million lb per year of polystyrene resin, which will be reused by the companies or sold to producers of insulation, fence posts, and flower pots. The new company is expecting a profit by 1992. 

Recognize that a viable economic approach to recycling is by thermal incineration reclamation of electrical energy. Since there is unlimited raw material sources (vegetation, etc.) to produce plastics, the incineration approach can eliminate the problems associated with reusing recycled plastics.3 211... 

An alternative approach to the recovery of automotive plastics is therefore to use them as large, easily removable components that offer potential for reclamation as well-characterized individual polymers. Some particularly complex components such as vehicle front- and rear-end systems, exhibit special suitability for manufacture in plastics instead of metals because of their ease of production and assembly. It is generally recognized that improvements in automotive scrapyard economics may be best achieved by the prior removal from vehicles of such large polymeric components and their recycling as well-characterized plastic fractions. For example, plastic fuel tanks of HOPE are now in common use and represent the most common recyclable plastic component. Trials with material recovered from used plastic fuel tanks have shown promising results for the manufacture of new tanks [6]. 

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