Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 9.2
Breakdown of Different Classes of Plastics in MSW and
their Recovery
Source: From EPA (2011).
Plastics Waste
generation
short tons
Percent waste
generation
(%)
Percent
recovery of
waste (%)
Recovery
rate (%)
HDPE 5,450,000
17.6
22.4
10.5
LDPE/
LLDPE
7,430,000
23.9
16.5
5.7
PET
3,980,000
12.8
30.6
19.6
PP
7,530,000
24.3
1.6
0.5
PS
2,060,000
6.6
0.8
1.0
PVC
910,000
2.9
0
0
Another recent waste management trend is to export waste, often sorted
plastic waste, for reprocessing. The EU countries for instance export waste
plastics (mainly polyethylene (PE) and PP) to member countries (mostly
Germany and France) as well as to Asia (mostly China) for reprocessing.
The different recovery options available for plastics waste might be
summarized as follows:
9.1.1 Material Recycling
The products are recovered from the MSW stream via curbside collection,
separated/sortedatMRFs,andthencleanedandgroundintochipsatplastic
reclaiming facilities to be remelted into recycled resin pellets. The recycled
resin is used, mixed with virgin plastics, in the fabrication of plastic
products. Mechanical recycling works best when applied to
source-separated streams of waste plastics products.
9.1.2 Feedstock Recovery
Waste plastic is changed by heat or chemical agents into chemicals that
might be used in the production of new polymers or as general chemical
feedstocks (Al-Salem et al., 2010). Monomer recovery works well with
source-separated plastics whereas general feedstock recovery is better
suited for mixed plastic waste.
