WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

Plastics are increasingly becoming the material of choice by product designers. An indication of this
trend can be seen in the increased use of plastics in products such as cars and refrigerators over the
last 20 years (see Table 1 for data on refrigerators).
Table 1:

Composition of refrigerators (kg and per cent) over time

(with estimated years for eventual waste)

Material

1972 (1991)

ABS
PS
HIPS
Fibreglass
PU Foam
Total

kg

NON PLASTICS

Steel
Compressor
Aluminium
Copper
Misc.

kg

147.6
30.3
7.9
0.6
5.7

PLASTICS

kg

1980 (1999)

3.6
2.4
8.0
17.9
4.0

35,9

15,8

13.5
1.2
6.9
8.9
11.0

228.0

228.0

100

226.0

192,1

kg

1988 (2007)
%

kg

81,6

129.0
26.0
13.0
1.0
8.0

177,0

79,0

47,0

21,0

224.0

100

84,2

138.3
28.2
10.4
0.8
6.8

41,5

18,4

23.3
0.0
5.7
0.0
18.0

226.0

100

224.0

184,5

kg

Source = American Plastics Council

(http://www.plasticsresource.com/reading_room/reports/r_recycled_fridge.html

In the face of increasing waste generation and the increasing contribution of plastics to a number
of waste streams, L/RAs are confronted with a number of environmental, economic and social issues,
not only concerning the management of waste plastics, but solid waste in general. These issues
include:
the saturation of traditional waste disposal facilities landfills and incinerators
public demand for selective material collection services
visual pollution and the effects on tourism
legal obligations to comply with legislative targets (e.g. for recovery, recycling and
landfill diversion)
Saturation of Traditional Waste Disposal Facilities
Landfills
Establishing a new landfill site is a major challenge for any L/RA. A report for
the UK Governments Cabinet Office2 noted that:
Negative reactions to landfill are evident even without detailed knowledge, because of an
instinctive negative reaction to the idea of burying things in the ground. The image of the
plastics in particular appears to be a powerful symbolic image of landfill in the public
consciousness

2- Public Attitudes Towards Recycling and Waste Management Quantitative and Qualitative Review Research Study for the Strategy Unit,
Cabinet Office September 2002

WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

In such an environment, it is understandable that L/RAs will wish to prolong the life-span of existing
landfill sites when this is related to public sector activities, yet seek to minimise waste disposal costs
where the private sector is used.
Constraining factors in landfilling plastics (apart from issues of longevity) concern the volume of
space that plastics occupy in relation to their weight. Plastic bottles are estimated to occupy twice
as much space in landfill than mixed waste.
Legislative pressure directed at landfill practices and economic incentives to divert waste from landfill
aims to aid the management of existing and future landfill capacity. However, an effective waste
recycling and recovery strategy is necessary to achieving these objectives.
Incinerators
Plastics are the most significant contributors to the energy
content - calorific value - of MSW. Most waste plastics have
a high calorific value (CV) at about 40 MJ/kg - similar to
fuel oil (see Table 2).
Table 2: Typical calorific values
Polymers, Fuels & Mixed waste plastics

Net calorific Value (Mj/kg)

HDPE/ LDPE/ PP

45

Oil

40

Coal

25

PVC (wide variations between rigid and flexible PVC)

22

Mixed food Packaging

45

Mixed non-food packaging

37

However, municipal solid waste incinerators (MSWIs) have two main operational constraints:
the material flow, and the CV of the waste. With the growth in the waste plastics fraction, MSWIs
reach their CV limits more rapidly, and sometimes operators need to dilute the waste with material
of a lower energy content. L/RAs with incinerators face a choice: whether to limit the high calorific
fraction to the incinerator (through selective collection and recycling programmes) or whether to
build a new incinerator. The construction of a new incinerator will usually provoke the same Nimby
(not-in-my-backyard) reaction as a proposed landfill site.
A 2002 UK Cabinet Office study3 estimated that acceptance of new incinerator
appears.to be conditional upon several requirements, including:
that it is part of a recycling-led strategy where everything that can be recycled has been
recycled
that certain materials are separated out and not directly incinerated (for example plastics)

3- Public Attitudes Towards Recycling and Waste Management Quantitative and Qualitative Review Research Study for the Strategy Unit,
Cabinet Office September 2002