Debunkinmg the Recycling Myth

Here's some things to keep in mind when you hear about
proposals to set up recycling plants feeding of plastic wastes,
imported in particular. The same could also apply for already
established plastics recycling plants that plan to import or are
already importing plastic wastes.


1) If the recycling plant will handle only imported wastes Ê it will
do nothing to address your own country‚s plastic waste disposal
problem. This should be kept in mind when evaluating potential
benefits of this project.

2) Some of the waste imported from the EU or other OECD
countries may not be recyclable. Experience from other
countries importing plastic wastes for recycling indicate that
much of the imported material is not recyclable at all, and some
of it is toxic. „Indonesia was importing foreign plastics for
recycling, but in 1992, after discovering that 40% of the
imported material was not recyclable and that approximately
10% of it was actually toxic, the government banned any further
importation of plastic waste.‰
(Lewis, D.L. and R. Chepesiuk, „The International Trade In
Toxic Waste: A Selected Bibliography Of Sources.‰
http://egj.lib.uidaho.edu/egj02/lewis01.html)
If the plastic waste is not recycled, it may end up being landfilled
or incinerated in your country. This will create additional
hazards. According to the U.S. EPA, 28 percent of the
cadmium in municipal solid waste comes from plastics.
http://es.epa.gov/techinfo/facts/epa/plstc?fs.html.
Such heavy metal additives will also be a significant component
of incinerator ash and emissions. In addition, the burning of
chlorine-containing plastics such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is
particularly dangerous because of the formation of dioxins,
which are known to cause cancer.

3) Recycling of plastic wastes is problematic because of the
wide variation in properties and chemical composition among the
different types of plastics. Because of this variability, plastics
must be sorted either by hand or by automated devices prior to
recycling. If plastics are not sorted, the resulting recycled mixed
plastics are of such low quality that they have only very limited
markets. It is important to know exactly which types of plastics
will be imported, whether or not they will be sorted, and what
market the recycled product is intended for. Markets
worldwide for plastic resins have been sluggish. If prices
continue to drop, the recycling company may decide that it is not
economic to keep the plant running. This would leave your
country to contend with a mound of imported waste.

4) Most plastic recycling operations involve the following steps:

a) unpacking the bales and sorting the plastic by resin type
and/or color;

b) shredding the sorted plastic into flakes;

c) cleaning the plastic to remove contaminants, pieces of label,
foil and glue;

d) heating and extruding the melted plastic, which is then
chopped into pellets.

These operations produce wastewaters from cleaning and
cooling, air emissions from heating and extruding, and waste
pellets and flakes from the initial shredding and final extrusion.

5) Additional wastes will be generated if the proposed recycling
facility is designed also to mold and form the final product.
Wastewater is produced during three operations at this stage:

1) heating and cooling;
2) cleaning;
3) molding and extruding.

Wastewaters from each of these processes is regulated under
the U.S. Clean Water Act. These regulations are found at 40
CFR Part 463 Ê Plastics Molding and Forming Point Source
Category. The effluent limitations guidelines for this category
establish limits for biochemical oxygen demand, oil and grease,
total suspended solids, and pH.

Wastewaters that have come into contact with plastics may also
contain pthalates, phenols and heavy metals Ê all of which are
toxic. In addition, the heat and pressure of the molding and
extruding processes may release volatile organic compounds and
heavy metals as fugitive emissions.

6) Most plastic recycling plants produce plastic pellets or flakes.
These pellets can then be sold as intermediate products to
manufacturers who mold and form them into final products.
These pellets are often spilled during loading and transport, and
may end up in wastewater. Plastic pellets are a major ecological
concern because of the harm they can cause to marine life if they
are transported in runoff to wetlands and estuaries. Seabirds
and other marine species can die from ingesting plastic pellets.
„EPA storm water regulations classify plastic pellets as
Œsignificant materials,‚ and therefore the discovery of a single
pellet in storm water runoff is subject to Federal regulatory
action.‰
http://es.epa.gov/oeca/sector/sectornote/pdf/rubplasn.pdf
U.S. EPA (1995) Profile of the Rubber and Plastics Industry.
EPA/310-R-95-016

7) Plastics have a high volume-to-weight ratio which makes
collection and transport a major cost factor. Although plastics
reprocessing requires less energy than production from virgin
materials, the additional costs of transport and collection make
the two about equally energy intensive. „For example, the energy
required to produce HDPE from virgin materials is 1.9Mj per
litre, compared with 0.1Mj per litre for reprocessed HDPE.‰
http://www.scu.edu.au/staff_pages/mcullen/wt_lec6.html
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