Recycling of waste plastic
Although some of plastic lumps seem to be identical, in fact are groups of different materials with dissimilar molecular structure. Recycling depends on the process of dividing each one. The use of plastic lumps leads to problems that concern the identification, separation and decontamination of plastic materials.
The spectrometer is one of the most frequent technique to identify these types of plastic materials, that after the processing, are often used in electronic and electric equipments production.
The recuperation of plastic wrappings represents the higher challenge in economic attainment, concerning the collecting of material sufficiently separated, having as a result, a viable recycling.
The charge of collecting the plastic waste in small quantity from a multitude sources is the major hitch regarding the development recycling process of polymers. In some countries the administrative politics undertake a large responsibility in recovery of wrappings and other products. This “responsibility’ presumes the development of plastic lumps recycling through covering some elements of traditional and commercial costs – through manufacturing and distribution, and finally through the high prices. Recycling different types of plastics leads to an issue regarding the incompatibility of polymers. The introduction of so-called “compatibles” that brings polymeric stability between the ties, from different structures of molecule of plastic lumps, facilitating the use of combinations. The compatibles can already make possible the producing of a certain type of plastic alloy made of low-quality materials.
There are seven different types of plastic lumps. You can determine the type of plastic, looking closer to the bottom of the recipient. This number corresponds to the degree of the plastic material. The separated grouping on the type of the material is compulsory before recycling.
The most frequent types are:- PET (polyethylene terephthalate)
- HDPE (high density polyethylene)
- PVC (polyvinyl chloride)
- LDPE (low density polyethylene)
- PP (polypropylene)
- PS (polystyrene)
In CE, about 60% from the total quantity of plastic lumps is energetically valorized.
The arguments that plead in the privilege of using those as a substitute for a conventional fuel referred to:- high caloricity - comparable to the superior carbon
- high costs of recycling – when the waste of plastics are not direct sorted at the sources and they end as garbage or when these come from food packages with a high degree impurity.
- these are not biodegradable, so they must be removed.