Understanding plastics recycling: economic, ecological, and technical aspects of plastic waste and handling

This book shows the true and often-underestimated market potential of plastics recycling, with analysis from economic, ecological, and technical perspectives. It is aimed at both technical and non-technical readers, including decision makers in material suppliers, plastic product manufacturers, governmental agencies, educators, and anyone with a general interest in plastics recycling. An overview of waste handling systems with a focus on the U.S. market is provided. Different methods of waste handling are compared from both economic and ecological perspectives. Since plastic waste recycling is essential from an ecological point of view, common strategies and new approaches to both increase the recycling rate and improve recycling economically and technically are presented. This includes processing and material properties of recycled plastics. Finally, a worldwide outlook of plastic recycling is provided with analysis of additional worldwide markets, encompassing highly developed, fast-developing, and less developed countries. Bonus: all the data and calculations presented in the book are provided as downloadable spreadsheets for the reader’s own analysis and updates. Acknowledgements 7 Foreword 9 Contents 11 Acronyms and Other Abbreviations 15 1 All About the Waste 17 1.1 Municipal Solid Waste— A Daily Companion 17 1.2 Management Methods for Municipal Solid Waste 19 1.2.1 Landfilling 20 1.2.2 Incineration with Energy Recovery (Waste-to-Energy) 21 1.2.3 Recycling 23 2 Plastics—Increasing Value, Decreasing Lifetime 25 3 Plastics Recycling—Conservation of Valuable Resources 29 3.1 Plastics Recycling Methods 30 3.1.1 Mechanical Recycling 30 3.1.2 Chemical Recycling 31 3.2 Recycling Different Types of Plastic Waste 31 3.2.1 Preconsumer Waste 31 3.2.1.1 Manufacturing Scrap 31 3.2.1.2 Dilution Effect 31 3.2.2 Postconsumer Waste 33 3.2.2.1 Packaging Plastic Waste 35 3.2.2.2 Building and Construction Plastic Waste 36 3.2.2.3 Automotive Plastic Waste 37 3.2.2.4 Agricultural Plastic Waste 37 3.2.2.5 Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) 38 3.3 Sorting Processes for Plastic Waste 39 3.3.1 Manual Sorting 39 3.3.2 Automated Sorting 39 3.3.2.1 Float-and-Sink Sorting 39 3.3.2.2 Froth-Flotation Sorting 40 3.3.2.3 Near-Infrared Sorting 40 3.3.2.4 X-Ray Fluorescence 40 3.3.2.5 Laser-Aided Identification 40 3.3.2.6 Marker Systems 40 3.4 Plastic Degradation Mechanisms 41 3.4.1 Mechanical Degradation 42 3.4.2 Thermal Degradation 42 3.4.3 Thermal Oxidative Degradation 43 3.4.4 Effect of Degradation on Processing and Service-Life Properties 43 3.5 Contaminants 51 3.6 Conclusion: Technical Feasibility of Plastics Recycling 51 4 Economic Analysis of Plastic Waste Handling 55 4.1 Fundamentals of Economic Analysis 55 4.1.1 Economic Efficiency Calculation 55 4.1.2 Static Economic Efficiency Calculation 56 4.1.3 Profit Comparison Method 56 4.2 Economic Analysis of Landfilling 57 4.3 Economic Analysis of Incineration with Energy Recovery (Waste-to-Energy Facilities) 62 4.4 Economic Analysis of Plastics Recycling 66 4.4.1 Materials Recovery Facility Costs 67 4.4.2 Plastic Reprocessing Costs 71 4.4.3 Revenues from Selling Recycled Plastic 74 4.4.4 Profitability 75 4.4.5 Oil Price as a Factor in Profitability of Plastics Recycling 75 4.5 Conclusion 78 5 Environmental Analysis of Plastic Waste Handling 83 5.1 Environmental Analysis of Landfilling 83 5.2 Environmental Analysis of Incineration with Energy Recovery (Waste-to-Energy Facilities) 85 5.3 Environmental Analysis of Recycling 86 5.4 Conclusion 88 6 Optimization of Plastics Recycling 91 6.1 Optimization I: Reduction of Sorting Processes 91 6.2 Optimization II: Upcycling of Plastic Waste by Blending 94 6.2.1 Additional Costs of LDPE–PP Recycling 97 6.2.2 Additional Revenues of LDPE–PP Recycling 99 6.2.3 Total Profit of Optimization II 99 6.3 Optimization III: Increasing the Recycling Rate 101 7 Plastic Waste of the World: Increasing Potential of Recycling 103 7.1 Plastic Waste Handling in Europe 106 7.2 Plastic Waste Handling in China 111 7.3 Plastic Waste in the Future 116 8 Appendix 119 8.1 Economic Analysis of Landfilling 120 8.2 Economic Analysis of WTE 123 8.3 Economic Analysis of Recycling 125 8.4 Optimization I: Reduction of Sorting Processes 128 8.5 Optimization II: Upcycling of Plastic Waste by Blending 129 Index 131 ISBN: 978-1-56990-676-7; E-Book ISBN: 978-1-56990-677-4 ISBN: 978-1-56990-676-7,E-Book ISBN: 978-1-56990-677-4 This book shows the true and often-underestimated market potential of plastics recycling, with analysis from economic, ecological, and technical perspectives. It is aimed at both technical and non-technical readers, including decision makers in material suppliers, plastic product manufacturers, governmental agencies, educators, and anyone with a general interest in plastics recycling. An overview of waste handling systems with a focus on the U.S. market is provided. Different methods of waste handling are compared from both economic and ecological perspectives. Because plastic waste recycling is essential from an ecological point of view, common strategies and new approaches to both increase the recycling rate and improve recycling economically and technically are presented. This includes processing and material properties of recycled plastics. Finally, a worldwide outlook of plastic recycling is provided with analysis of additional worldwide markets, encompassing highly developed, fast-developing, and less developed countries. All the data and calculations presented in the book are provided as downloadable spreadsheets for the readers own analysis and updates. Shows the true and often-underestimated market potential of plastics recycling, with analysis from economic, ecological, and technical perspectives. The book is aimed at both technical and non-technical readers, including decision makers in material suppliers, plastic product manufacturers, governmental agencies, educators, and anyone with a gener