Recyclable MaterialsRecyclable MaterialsPlastic is a man-made material composed of carbon and hydrogen molecules. Plastic molecules are so tightly bound together that decomposer organisms such as bacteria and fungi cannot penetrate them and therefore, they do not biodegrade.
Plastics will eventually disintegrate if exposed to sunlight and oxygen for an extended period of time (probably hundreds of years) through a process called photo-oxidation, but since these conditions are lacking in landfill sites plastics (and other materials) cannot be expected to break down.
Plastic is a very useful material due to its stability, versatility and light weight, and is used for a very broad range of applications.
Thirty+ plastic resins (types) are now in use. Most common are PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate) which is commonly used to manufacture soft drink bottles, HDPE (high-density polyethylene) used for milk & juice jugs as well as shampoo & motor oil bottles, LDPE (low-density polyethylene) often used for grocery bags, PVC (polyvinyl chloride) used to manufacture vegetable oil bottles, PP (polypropylene) found in margarine & yogurt tubs, and PS (polystyrene) commonly referred to as "styrofoam" which is in fact the Dow Chemical brand name for PS. Other applications of all these plastics exist.
HDPE and PET make up about 85% of all the plastic bottles manufactured in Canada (from EPIC Plastics Recycling News, published by the Environment and Plastics Institute of Canada - now called Canadian Plastics Industry Association, May 1991)
Plastics are often lumped into three broad categories: rigid plastics, film (plastic bags) and foam.
TECHNOLOGY:
The wide range of plastics on the market poses challenges for the potential recycler. Plastics recycling technologies are generally broken down into four categories: primary, secondary, tertiary and quartenary recycling (the last being incineration).
Primary recycling is routine in the plastics industry. Clean plastic waste generated in the manufacturing process is reintroduced to the virgin feedstock. This process is more an avoidance of waste than recycling.
Secondary recycling deals with mixed or contaminated plastic wastes, the type of waste that would be collected from households (also known as post-consumer plastics). Four possible approaches to secondary recycling are described below.
First: mixed plastics collected at the curb can be separated into different plastic streams. Each stream is then made into lower value items using standard or slightly modified processes and equipment. As an example, soft drink bottles (made from PET) are turned into fibrefill.
Another approach is to use special equipment that can handle a mixed stream (many different plastic resins thrown together) to manufacture a lumber substitute which can be used for fencing, picnic tables, benches and other such products.
The third method is to use plastic waste as a filler. For example, thermoset plastics, generally considered non-recyclable, can be ground and added as filler in virgin resin. (Note that unless otherwise indicatedthe information in this file refers to thermoplastics which make up 87% of plastic sales.)
Methanolysis, a new technology being refined by Eastman Kodak, employs a multi-step operation in which scrap PET is cleaned, reduced to its basic components and then reprocessed to return it to the level of bottle-grade resin. This post-consumer plastic will then be used again for food & beverage applications. Until recently, the possibility of contamination has prevented the use of recycled plastics in food or beverage containers. (from EPIC Plastics Recycling News - see CPIA, May 1991) See END USES for further information.
In tertiary recycling the plastic is broken down into chemicals and then reused to synthesize new resins. As an example PET bottles can be converted into aromatic chemicals then used to make polyurethane foams and polyester resins.
Quartenary recycling refers to incineration. Serious concerns have been raised with regards to recovering energy from waste plastic since this will only retrieve a fraction of the original value of the product, and could create a new set of environmental problems, such as releasing toxins into the atmosphere.
Most of the information in this section has been gleaned from "Post-Consumer Plastics Recycling in Ontario: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives", a document in the RCO Library.
REDUCTION:
Tomra Systems Inc. endorses the use of refillable PET containers for soft drinks. Tomra manufactures & sells bottle refill machines, which can handle PET bottles, to food stores such as Food City, IGA and Dutch Boy. (Ron Chlebo, Tomra, 416-567-8016)
General Electric Plastics has developed a new rigid plastic called Lexan PPC (polyphthalate carbonate) which is lightweight, impact-resistant and can be reused (after being sterilized) 200 times. A convenience store in New York uses lexan for its refillable 1/2 gallon milk jugs and 1/2 pint milk bottles. (Karen O'Donnell, GE Plastics, 413-448-7565)
END USES:
Most Canadian plastics recyclers handle post-industrial scrap and, therefore, deal with one plastic resin at a time. Several are now tackling the more complex task of separating, cleaning & reprocessing post-consumer plastics. These recyclers must be equipped to deal with contaminants i.e. food or other residues, extraneous materials such as metals, paper or other plastics.
Resource Plastics Corp. opened its plant in Brantford early in 1990 to upgrade soiled industrial and institutional plastics wastes only. Currently it also recycles post-consumer plastics from the Guelph residential program, Quinte in the Belleville area, Muskoka, Hamilton-Wentworth and others.
Resource Plastics is currently involved in R&D projects with five Canadian universities. The company is working with the University of Waterloo to develop an extraction process which would remove hazardous wastes such as pesticides and corrosive chemicals from plastic containers. The company is also developing a high speed sorting technology for mixed blue box materials that should be in place in 1992.
The company is planning a major expansion within a year and a half to put in dedicated equipment for thin gage or plastic bag recycling. The present facility will be upgraded to a capacity of 10,000 tonnes per year. Part of this capacity will be for the blue box flexible packaging from the test project in Peterborough.
Resource Plastics recycles Blue Box rigid plastic containers into pellets for bottle & sheet applications. Together with Plax Inc., a plastics converter in Burlington, the company produces an oil container with 25% post-consumer recycled plastic. It is working with Imperial Oil on a similar oil container product. It is possible to produce a bottle with 100% post-consumer plastic; however, it is up to the manufacturers that Resource Plastics supplies to decide how much recycled content is to be used. (Ron McElwee, Resource Plastics Inc., 519-754-1754)
Nu-Plast Inc., a Brampton industrial scrap recycler, now recycles plastic shopping and grocery bags and sells the recycled pellets to manufacturers for conversion into new bags containing up to 50% post-consumer plastic. They also recycle polyethylene and polypropylene bottles for reprocessing into flower pots, nursery trays and pipe.
Nu-Plast also accepts waste from construction sites, as well as some difficult, contaminated materials that have previously not been recycled. (Mario Cesari, Nu-Plast, 416-454-2666)
In a pilot program in Peterborough, Ontario polyethylene film in the form of milk pouches and bags, bread wrap, garbage bags and other film is collected from 25,000 households. Du Pont Canada Inc. purchases the baled plastic film, has another company process it into pellets then sells it to manufacturers of film for garbage bags.
Du Pont also recycles the HDPE from the Metro Toronto blue box program purchasing approximately 150 tonnes per month of bottles from the region. The resulting resin is sold to companies that use it to manufacture new bottles, flower pots and other household items. (John Pringle, Du Pont Canada Inc., 416-821-5710)
Kodak is collecting its disposable styrene cameras. If the camera body is in good shape it is refitted with new parts and resold. Those that have been crushed are re-extruded with new parts and made into the same component. This program recycles 60 million film cartrdiges and their plastic containers in North America now, and will expand shortly to capture 600 million containers per year. (Tom Goram, Kodak, 416-766-8233)
Twinpak Inc., Canada's largest supplier of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) soft drink bottles, is working with Eastman Chemical to incorporate post-consumer PET into new plastic soft drink bottles. Twinpak is purchasing reconstituted PET from Eastman although supplies are still somewhat limited. Eastman expects that the methanolysis process it is using will be commercially available by 1993. Coca-Cola, which received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to use the recycled plastic introduced the new resin in its two-litre bottles in Charlotte, N.C. in mid-March, 1990. Although the FDA approved the use of 100% recycled PET, Coke is using a blend of 25% recycled product and 75% virgin resin in its initial tests. Pepsi is also conducting tests in the United States. (Dr. Fred Edgecombe, Society of the Plastics Industry, 416-449-3444)
In Canada neither Coke nor Pepsi bottles are coming out with recycled content. (Pierre Dubois, Twinpak, 514-684-7070)
Canon Canada Inc. launched a program in 1991 designed to divert almost 1.5 million laser printer and photocopier cartridges from landfills. Their "Clean Earth Campaign" involves the collection of the used toner cartridges, breaking them down into components such as plastics and metal, and recycling them into brand new cartridges. Roughly 95% of the mass of each cartridge will be reused or recycled. The remaining five percent is residue toner which is converted into an energy source for the factory. As of July 1992 over 33,000 toner cartridges had been collected for recycling. (Barrie Doyle, Canon, 416-795-2072)
Canadian Polystyrene Recycling Association (CPRA) operates a recycling facility for industrial PS scrap and post-consumer PS (from cafeterias, food courts, institutions, individuals and, since April 1992, the Skydome). As of June 1992 CPRA had collected one million pounds of PS (exceeding expectations). The plant has a capacity of six million pounds per year and is currently taking PS from 150 locations in London, Niagara Peninsula and other areas in southwestern Ontario.
The plastics are sorted manually by the collection agency at a depot. Polystyrene is also being collected from Air Canada. A returnable program with a grocery manufacturer is still under negotiation. (Mike Scott, CPRA, 416-612-8291)
"Customers in the manufacturing, transportation, mining, forestry and agricultural sectors can now return their empty lubricant and grease pails to companies such as Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, Petro Canada and Valvoline for recycling.
While reusing the pails would be a better option than recycling them, technical barriers currently exist which prevent the pails from being adequately cleaned while keeping them round so new lids can be applied. Meanwhile, recycling the pails into new pails and other plastic products is expected to prevent thousands of these containers from ending up in landfills each year.
The companies do offer a refillable system, including deposits, for their larger drums." (EPIC Newsletter - see CPIA, Spring 1992)
An industry consortium has been incorporated to discuss the legalities of building a plastics recycling facility (PRF). The facility would separate various plastics including HDPE and PET, other plastic bottles such as wide-mouth bottles, film plastics and polystyrene. (CPIA)
Low-density polyethylene grocery bags are being collected at thousands of supermarkets throughout Canada and the U.S. Likewise, when newspapers are put out at the curb for blue box collection residents often place them in plastic grocery bags; these bags are retrieved and recycled. Some dry cleaning companies are also collecting the polyethylene film that they use to protect clothing via depots in their stores. (Charmian Entine, CPIA, 449-3444)
PCL Packaging of Oakville is one of the major companies in Ontario involved in grocery sack collection and recycling. It operates in over 1,000 stores and gets back over 900,000 kg of material per year. Uncontaminated bags are recycled into the same product; other bags are made into trashbags. The washing technology called "water flotation" used to clean contaminated bags is being improved. PCL Packaging will invest in this technology within one year's time. (Paul Rahn, PCL, 416-827-8071)
Knowaste Technologies Inc. of Mississauga is operating a pilot plant in Mississauga recycling the components of diapers collected from four Toronto hospitals. While the wood pulp (which makes up about 80% of a diaper) is reconverted into paperboard, the plastic component (approximately 15% of the mass of a diaper) is made into a low-cost oil absorbent. The plastics in a diaper are usually made up of a mix of polypropylene, polyethylene and mylar which can be made into a synthetic oil absorbent for marine applications more cheaply than using virgin resins.
Thus far Knowaste has diverted approximately two tonnes of diapers from the waste stream. They hope to have a full-scale facility operational by November 1992 which will take diapers from institutions and households across Ontario (several municipalities have expressed an interest in setting up pilot collection programs curbside or in apartment buildings). (Doug Ray, Knowaste, 416-564-1496)
Plas/Re/Tech in Lindsay accepts consumer blue box plastics and clean industrial plastics. It feeds the plastics into a chopper and granulator. The granulated plastics are stored in a silo for future use. Certain mixtures of plastics are extruded to produce plastic lumber. This brand new company makes picnic tables, retaining walls, flower pots and other products. (Kerry Goswell-Platt, Plas/Re/Tech, 705-878-5700)
Superwood Ontario Limited (a manufacturer of plastic lumber substitutes) was placed in receivership in the fall of 1991. ("Ontario Recycling Update", December 1991)
IMPACTS:
The manufacture of plastics requires petroleum, a non-renewable resource, and creates environmental pollutants. As litter it defiles private and public land and poses a serious threat to wildlife often causing death through suffocation or entanglement.
"In an EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) ranking of the 20 chemicals whose production generates the most total hazardous waste, five of the top six are chemicals commonly used by the plastics industry. These include propylene (ranked first), phenol (third), ethylene (fourth), polystyrene (fifth) and benzene (sixth). In 1980, 44% of propylene, 73% of phenol, 61% of ethylene and 72% of styrene produced were consumed by the plastics industry." ("Wrapped in Plastics: The Environmental Case for Reducing Plastics Packaging", Environmental Action Foundation, 1988)
The production of polystyrene, as an example, involves the use of several hazardous chemicals not the least of which is styrene. According to the Vermonters Organized for Cleanup, occupational exposure to styrene causes immediate eye and nose irritation, central nervous system disorders, skin disease, kidney damage and, in severe cases, death.
"Plastics are ideal candidates for recycling since they are literally made up of non-renenwable fossil energy - about 30% oil and 70% natural gas (Society of the Plastics Industry, 1981)....The energy required to produce one pound of recycled PET is 6,000 Btu, whereas 49,000 Btu are required to make a pound of virgin PET. That translates into an energy savings of 88% (Gaines and Wolsky, 1983). Other estimates of energy savings from recycling polyethylene - of which many different types exist - reach 97% savings (Powell, 1981)." (quoted from Resource Recycling, January/February 1989, p. 56)
STATISTICS:
Plastics made up 7% of municipal solid waste, by weight, in 1991. By volume they comprised 20% of MSW. (CPIA).
Although plastics currently make up a relatively small proportion of the total waste stream there are indications that plastic consumption is growing. According to Franklin Associates plastics comprised 2.7% of MSW in 1970, 7.2% in 1984 and are projected to make up 9.8% of MSW in the United States in 2000.
INTERNATIONAL:
San Diego County in California has a plastics recovery rate of three percent, three times the U.S. national average. It has set a goal of 50% recovery by the year 2000. ("Plastics Recycling Action Plan for San Diego County: A Profile of Current Plastics Recycling and Recommendations for Expansion", San Diego County Department of Public Works, 1991)
West Germany is using recycled plastic waste as a sound barrier along a stretch of the autobahn near Cologne. ("Ontario Recycling Update", September/October 1990).
In 1990, Denmark began taxing one-way plastic beverage containers. In July 1991, all PET bottles marketed in Sweden had to have a reuse collecting scheme. In Austria, all one-way plastic packs will bear a deposit depending on the size. Since Sept. 1990, a mandatory deposit has been applied to refillable plastic packaging for beverages, and retailers are obliged to take back the empties. ("Polymers and the Environment", Exxon, April 1991)
In the Netherlands, supermarkets stopped providing customers with free plastic bags in July 1991. In 1992, shrink wrap use on trays containing PET packaged food was discontinued. ("The Netherlands Packaging Covenant", June 6, 1991)
In France "the three main producers of PVC for packaging, Atochem, Shell Chimie and Solvay, and the three main users, Evian, Perrier and Vittel, have set up a European Interest Grouping to promote the collection and recycling of plastic bottles." ("Business Europe", Feb. 22, 1991, p. 5)
Due to public concerns about health and environmental impacts of PVC many European countries are moving to reduce or eliminate its use. Some examples: Swedish companies agreed to discontinue the use of PVC in packaging starting in July 1990 due to public concern with plasticizer additives in the PVC leaching into food covered with PVC films; A German hospital was constructed free of PVC except in the operating room floors where its electrical conductivity properties were needed; the Luxembourg government has encouraged architects to use glass and wood in place of PVC. ("Ontario Recycling Update", March 1992)
In 1993, Rib Loc Australia will be turning 250,000 tonnes of HDPE from used milk jugs and fruit jugs into piping. The pipes will range from 150mm cabling conduits to two-metre storm water and sewage drains. The process uses new technologies that creates secondary plastic products that have characteristics similar to virgin material. ("Warmer Bulletin", February 1992, p. 32)
OTHER:
Most Ontario muncipalities with blue box programs are collecting PET. An increasing number are now collecting other plastics as well. Some, such as Metro Toronto, are taking only PET and high-density polyethylene i.e. plastic bottles and jugs. Others such as Mississauga, Markham and Lindsay collect a mix of plastics. These three municipalities were selling their plastics to Superwood Ontario (a manufacturer of a plastic lumber substitute) until that company went into receivership. Mississauga is currently stockpiling its plastics as it searches for a market. (Rob Rivers, City of Mississauga, 906-615-3000) Markham is still collecting the plastics as it negotiates a deal with a Markham recycling firm. (Jeanette Anbinder, Town of Markham, 416-475-4706) Lindsay is sending its plastics to Plas/Re/Tech. (Neil Bailey, Town of Lindsay, 705-324-2712)
For a list of Ontario municipalities collecting plastics contact David Boland at OMMRI, 416-594-3456.
CONTACTS:
Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA), (905) 678-7748.
Canadian Polystyrene Recycling Association, Mike Scott, (416) 612-8291
DATE UPDATED: 1992-07-30
The Recycling Council of Ontario's e-mail address is: rco@rco.on.ca.
