This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Bekkevold, S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Bekkevold, S. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Source Separation of Plastic Wastes Yields and Qualities From a Pilot Study in Norway

A/S Miljøplan, N-1300 Sandvika, Norway

Source separation experiments in some selected commercial and industrial establishments showed that the individual establishment participating in the sortering, had a yearly generation of polyethylene (PEL) foil waste of 0.4-2.8 t, corresponding to 7-168 kg/employee each year. There were no problems of separating PEL foil from other waste components. Difficulties consisted in removing attached contaminants (labels and tape) and there was a general positive attitude by employees concerning participation in a permanent source separation process and even in improving the sorting procedure.

The regenerated plastics showed satisfactory properties for applications in refuse sack production, but the degree of contamination of the input material was generally higher than acceptable for an extrusion process. Extensive plastic recycling based on source separation of consumer waste would require mechanical wet refining/sorting before regeneration to prevent frequent clogging of extruder filters. However, refining might be omitted for wastes from a few careful selected establishments. Based on the present price situation for PEL, mechanical baling of plastic wastes before transportation is necessary.

Key Words: Source separation • plastic waste • plastic recovery • Norway.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?