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Assessment of plastic packaging waste: Material origin, methods, properties

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  • Luijsterburg, Benny
  • Goossens, Han

Abstract

The global plastics production has increased annually and a substantial part is used for packaging (in Europe 39%). Most plastic packages are discarded after a relatively short service life and the resulting plastic packaging waste is subsequently landfilled, incinerated or recycled. Laws of several European and Asian countries require that plastic packaging waste collected from households has to be sorted, reprocessed, compounded and reused. These recycling schemes typically produce milled goods of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), poly(ethylene) (PE), isotactic poly(propylene) (PP), mixed plastics, and agglomerates from film material. The present study documents the composition and properties of post-consumer polyolefin recyclates originating from both source separation and mechanical recovery from municipal solid refuse waste (MSRW). The overall composition by Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were determined and compared with the sorting results of the sorted fractions prior to the reprocessing into milled goods. This study shows that the collection method for the plastic packaging waste has hardly any influence on the final quality of the recyclate; however, the sorting and reprocessing steps influence the final quality of the recyclate. Although the mechanical properties of recyclate are clearly different than those of virgin polymers, changes to the sorting and reprocessing steps can improve the quality.

Suggested Citation

  • Luijsterburg, Benny & Goossens, Han, 2014. "Assessment of plastic packaging waste: Material origin, methods, properties," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 88-97.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:85:y:2014:i:c:p:88-97
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2013.10.010
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    Cited by:

    1. Mayanti, Bening & Helo, Petri, 2022. "Closed-loop supply chain potential of agricultural plastic waste: Economic and environmental assessment of bale wrap waste recycling in Finland," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    2. Hannah Jones & Florence Saffar & Vasileios Koutsos & Dipa Ray, 2021. "Polyolefins and Polyethylene Terephthalate Package Wastes: Recycling and Use in Composites," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-43, November.
    3. Meng, Ting & Klepacka, Anna M. & Florkowski, Wojciech J. & Braman, Kristine, 2015. "What drives an environmental horticultural firm to start recycling plastics? Results of a Georgia survey," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 1-8.
    4. Marie Kampmann Eriksen & Anders Damgaard & Alessio Boldrin & Thomas Fruergaard Astrup, 2019. "Quality Assessment and Circularity Potential of Recovery Systems for Household Plastic Waste," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 156-168, February.

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