Diversion from landfill: mechanical recycling of plastics from materials recovery facilities and from shredder residue

Abstract

Diversion from landfill of post-consumer and shredder residue plastics can occur through some simple mechanical recycling techniques. Mechanically recycled post-consumer high-density polyethylene (HDPE) has been remoulded into bottle shapes. Both the chemical and mechanical properties of this polymer have been analysed and found to behave as well as the virgin material. Polyolefin plastic, separated from a complex mixture of shredder residue, has been remoulded into test samples and also compares favourably to a sample of the virgin polymer.