In this section, you can access to the latest technical information related to the FUTURE project topic.

9 Recycling of Plastics

Although the quantity of plastics recycled has increased steadily since records began, the rate of recycling is not keeping up with the rate at which virgin plastics are being produced. A higher proportion of plastics is being disposed of in landfills than ever before. The amount of plastics produced and the quantities that are discarded mean that plastic recycling continues to be a political issue. There are many opportunities to use recycled plastics but utilization must be financially viable, technically feasible, and environmentally safe. Most of the technology used today focuses on recovering value from homogeneous high-value, low-contamination streams. There remains a number of plastics that cannot be recovered economically and that number changes with the price of oil: as the price of oil drops, the cost of producing virgin plastics decreases, making many recycling processes less economically attractive.

» Author: Jose Valdo Madeira, Fabiano Jares Contesini, Felipe Calzado, Marcelo Ventura Rubio, Mariane Paludetti Zubieta, Danielle Branta Lopes, Ricardo Rodrigues de Melo

» Reference: Applied Plastics Engineering Handbook

» Source: ScienceDirect - GPP

« Go to Technological Watch



AIMPLAS Instituto Tecnológico del Plástico

C/ Gustave Eiffel, 4
(València Parc Tecnològic) - 46980
PATERNA (Valencia) - SPAIN

PHONE

(+34) 96 136 60 40

EMAIL

Project Management department - Sustainability and Industrial Recovery
life-future-project@aimplas.es