Plastic Film Waste Research Articles

Investigation of the Impact of Single and Double Filtration Systems on Post-Consumer PE Film Waste.

Due to the diversity of plastic film waste streams available on the market and the associated variety of contaminants' size and number, the use of melt filtration is necessary. Currently, single and double filtration systems are state of the art in the plastic recycling industry, depending on the application of the produced post-consumer recyclate (PCR). Using PCR for thin films demands small contamination sizes, which are easier to reach using a second filtration step. In the case of relatively clean post-consumer input materials, it must be investigated whether the additional load from the second filter has a counterproductive effect on the material and whether single filtration would be sufficient. For this paper, polyethylene (PE) film waste stemming from a separate post-consumer collection in Austria was processed using an industrial-sized recycling machine with different combinations of filter sizes and systems. Melt flow rate (MFR), ash content, oxidation onset temperature (OOT), and optical contaminant detection were measured to investigate the influence of single and double filtration systems. The investigation showed that, even though the contamination amount and size were reduced, the second filter had a distinct effect on specific properties.

Stepwise crystallization method combining isotactic polypropylene-based plastic waste film to prepare high-performance polypropylene random copolymer

Upcycling of waste plastic film is increasingly important at the background of energy shortage and environmental crisis. However, direct reuse of the waste plastics as reworked material inevitably downgrades the mechanical properties. Herein, a stepwise crystallization method was used to enable the recycling of waste isotactic polypropylene (iPP) film value-added in iPP-based homocomposites. In detail, the effect of β-nucleating agent (β-NA) and iPP on crystallization behaviors of polypropylene random copolymer (PPR) was investigated at first. The stepwise crystallization procedure was further introduced to promote the β-crystallization of PPR/iPP/β-NA composites in which the crystal structures, polymorph compositions and phase morphologies were systematically researched. At last, impact behaviors of PPR/iPP/β-NA composites were characterized and a penitential toughening mechanism was proposed. It was found that the stepwise crystallization boosted β-crystallization and growth of rubbery phase during the isothermal procedure, resulting in an increase of relative β-crystal content and low temperature impact toughness from 0 % and 2.02 kJ/m2 of neat PPR to 33.4 % and 3.06 kJ/m2 of PPR/iPP/β-NA composites. This work provides a simple, implementable, and effective method for the recycling of waste iPP films and the low-temperature toughening of PPR.

Quantifying the environmental impact of transportation for plastic film packaging end-of-life: Landfill, incineration, physical recycling, or chemical recycling

This study assesses the often-overlooked environmental impact of waste transportation in the life cycle of polymer-based multilayer packaging (PMP) in New York State (NYS). Analyzing greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and energy consumption, the research includes various waste management scenarios, including landfilling, incineration, material recovery facilities (MRF) with chemical recycling (CR), and retail return with CR. The study maps existing waste management facilities, calculates travel distances, and introduces a proposed central CR facility. Findings reveal that compared to landfilling, transportation GHG emissions are higher for incineration (64 %), MRF with CR (264 %), and retail return with CR (158 %). The research highlights the importance of well-distributed landfill locations over sparse CR and incineration sites, hindering plastic film recycling advancement in the US. The model introduces three new incinerators, reducing transport energy (28 %) and GHG emissions (31 %). This study stands as the most comprehensive assessment of transportation impacts on plastic film waste, offering a versatile model for research, policy, and facility siting.

Design and Optimization of a Toothed-Plate Single-Roller Crushing Device for Waste Plastic Film

Waste plastic film often contains an abundance of impurities, such as crop stems and soil. To address this issue, a toothed-plate single-roller crushing device for waste plastic film was developed. By analyzing the movement and force pattern of the film, the feeding speed, the number of toothed plates, and the crushing roller rotation speed were used as test factors, and the size qualification rate and the impurity content of the crushed film were used as test indexes. Through a Box–Behnken test design, regression analysis, and ANOVA, a model between factors and indexes was established. The results showed that the size qualification rate and the impurity content of the crushed film were 82.55% and 9.57%, and the errors in the prediction and test values were 6.14% and 8.38%, which proved them to have good reliability. The findings of this study provide essential technical and equipment support for the resource recovery of waste plastic films.

Study on vibration sorting of waste plastic film by micro-element trajectory method

The sorting of waste plastic film can effectively protect the environment, improve energy efficiency, and effectively improve its recycling value. In this paper, a new method for solving the vibration sorting trajectory of waste plastic film, micro-element trajectory method, was proposed. The mathematical model of the thin film vibration was established, the force of the thin film was analyzed, and the motion trajectory of the thin film was obtained. The experimental platform was built to obtain the displacement difference of different thin film vibration sorting. The simulation experiment was carried out by ADAMS. Compared with the experimental results and simulation results, the correctness of the algorithm was verified. The comparison results show that compared with the experimental results, the average error rate of the sorting displacement difference of different thin films is 3.17 %; and compared with the simulation experiment, the average error rate of the motion trajectory calculated by using the single film is 5 %, the error is small. The algorithm has small amount of calculation and fast calculation speed. It provides an efficient and reliable calculation method for the follow-up research of waste plastic film vibration sorting technology.

Method to Develop Potential Business Cases of Plastic Recycling from Urban Areas: A Case Study on Nonhousehold End-Use Plastic Film Waste in Belgium

Method to Develop Potential Business Cases of Plastic Recycling from Urban Areas: A Case Study on Nonhousehold End-Use Plastic Film Waste in Belgium

Farmers’ participation into the recovery of waste agricultural plastic film: An application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

This study aims to address the lack of relevant researches in the field of waste recycling using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). A village-scale social survey was conducted to investigate the degree of farmers’ participation in a waste plastic film program, i.e. Old for New in northwest China. The program required farmers to recycle plastic film residues in exchange for new films. Survey results showed that 67.5% of farmers accepted the program, yet only 14.5% of them actually participated. Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze questionnaire data and identify the factors that significantly affected farmers' recycling behavior. Principal component and weight analysis further showed that farmers' participation was mainly influenced by their attitudes (p < 0.01), with a relative weight (RW) of 46.3%. Yet, subjective norms (p < 0.1) and perceived behavior control (p < 0.1) had less effect on the degree of participation, and their RWs were 4.2% and 4.1% only, respectively. Moreover, the RW of plastic film usage characteristics and household characteristics reached up to 13.2% and 6.4%, respectively. Interestingly, environmental awareness (β = 0.083) and compulsory environmental education (β = 0.130) as surface factors strongly affected the farmers' adoption and response, with the RW of 25.7%. As such, the extended TPB model was established to analyze the participation behavior of farmers for stronger explanatory power. This study highlighted a promising strategy based on TPB for waste plastic film recycling and similar environmental management practices.

Study on coupling vibration sorting parameters of waste plastic film and experimental verification

The waste plastic film is seriously polluted and needs to be sorted and recycled. Vibration sorting of waste plastic film is a highly efficient sorting method at present. A new method for sorting waste plastic film was proposed: coupling vibration sorting. The dynamic interaction of thin film, bed surface and vibrating bed was researched. The nonlinear coupling vibration differential equation of thin film-bed surface-vibrating bed was established. It was found that the sorting distance between the two kinds of films under coupling vibration was 50% higher than that under uncoupling vibration, the validity of the model was verified. The influence of vibration frequency, eccentric block angle, longitudinal inclination angle and transverse inclination angle of the bed surface on the sorting effect in the coupling vibration sorting system were studied, and the vibration sorting trajectories of polyethylene film and polypropylene film under different parameters were obtained. The correctness of the theoretical model was verified by the adjustable vibration sorting experimental prototype. The experimental results show that the thin film-bed surface-vibrating bed coupling vibration sorting model can accurately simulate the thin film sorting law in the coupling vibration process, and the sorting effect of plastic film is improved. It lays a foundation for effectively improving the accuracy of waste plastic film vibration sorting and the optimization of sorting equipment.

Rethinking plastic recycling: A comparison between North America and Europe

In this article, we identify the problem of plastic proliferation, the consequent expansion of plastic waste in our society, the inadequacies of current attempts to recycle plastic, and the urgency to address this problem in the light of the microplastic threat. It details the problems with current efforts to recycle plastic and the particularly poor recycling rates in North America (NA) when compared to certain countries in the European Union (EU). The obstacles to plastic recycling are overlapping economic, physical and regulatory problems spanning fluctuating resale market prices, residue and polymer contamination and offshore export which often circumvents the entire process. The primary differences between the EU and NA are the costs of end-of-life disposal methods with most EU citizens paying much higher prices for both landfilling and Energy from Waste (incineration) costs compared with NA. At the time of writing, some EU states are either restricted from landfilling mixed plastic waste or the cost is significantly greater than in NA ($80 to 125 USD/t vs $55 USD/t). This makes recycling a favourable option in the EU, and, in turn, has led to more industrial processing and innovation, more recycled product uptake, and the structuring of collection and sorting methods that favour cleaner polymer streams. This is a self-re-enforcing cycle and is evident by EU technologies and industries that have emerged to process “problem plastics”, such as mixed plastic film wastes, co-polymer films, thermosets, Polystyrene, (PS) Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), and others. This is in contrast with NA recycling infrastructure, which has been tailored to shipping low-value mixed plastic waste abroad. Circularity is far from complete in any jurisdiction as export of plastic to developing countries is an opaque, but often used disposal method in the EU as it is in NA. Proposed restrictions on off-shore shipping and regulations requiring minimum recycled plastic content in new products will potentially increase plastic recycling by increasing both supply and demand for recycled product.

The Next Billion Pound Industry: Green Entrepreneurs, Operating in a Circular Plastics Economy, Recycling Low Grade Laminated Flexible Plastic Film Waste into Durable Products

The Next Billion Pound Industry: Green Entrepreneurs, Operating in a Circular Plastics Economy, Recycling Low Grade Laminated Flexible Plastic Film Waste into Durable Products

Pyrolytic biochar from plastic film waste addition on farmland for maize growth improvement: Process and effect study

Pyrolyzing and returning to farmland is one of the potential methods for farmland plastic film waste. This study explored both pyrolyzation and activation optimum conditions of a mixture of plastic film (polyethylene) and maize straw (MPS) in a 1:5 ratio to produce MPS-char, investigated the action of the char on the maize seedling stage (for 30 days). The results showed that the char promoted the root to be more advanced than aboveground part, therefore, this study experimentally clarified the role MPS-char played when added to the soil. The functional groups of the char were varied by the participation of polyethylene. Carbon-based groups were observed, such as carbonyl or carboxyl groups, which could constitute an NH4+ absorption release system to increase the existence of urea in soil, therefore the average nitrogen concentration was improved by 16.18 %. However, the shallow soil temperature increased by 2.03 °C, and the deep soil temperature slightly decreased with the effect of MPS-char. While, the soil moisture content was slightly reduced in the second half of the experiment, and the soil oxygen content increased by 7.64 % throughout the whole experiment. Overall, returning MPS-char to farmland showed a positive effect on maize growth, which was caused by the variation of both chemical and physical properties. This variation provides opportunities for further promotion of rhizosphere development.

Lifecycle Assessment for Recycling Processes of Monolayer and Multilayer Films: A Comparison.

This work covers a lifecycle assessment of monolayer and multilayer films to quantify the environmental impacts of changing the management of plastic film waste. This lifecycle assessment offers the possibility of quantifying the environmental impacts of processes along the lifecycle of monolayer and multilayer films and mapping deviating impacts due to changed process parameters. Based on the status quo, the changes in global warming potential and abiotic fossil resource depletion were calculated in different scenarios. The changes included collecting, sorting, and recycling mono- and multilayer films. The “Functional Unit” under consideration comprised 1000 kg of plastic film waste, generated as post-consumer waste in Austria and captured in the lightweight packaging collection system. The results showed the reduction of environmental impacts over product lifecycles by improving waste management and creating a circular economy. Recycling all plastic film reduced global warming potential by 90% and abiotic fossil resource consumption by 93%. The necessary optimisation steps to meet the politically required recycling rates by 2025 and 2030 could be estimated, and the caused environmental impacts are presented. This work shows the need for increased collection, recycling, and significant improvement in the sorting of films to minimise global warming potential and resource consumption.

A New Process of Preparing Rice Straw-Reinforced LLDPE Composite.

To reduce the pollution resulting from discarding waste plastic film and burning straw, a new method of preparing straw-reinforced LLDPE composites was developed to utilize these wastes. The straws were first laid parallel on an LLDPE film and then rolled up. The rolls containing long straws were laid into a mat and then hot-pressed into a long straw composite board (the mass of straw accounted for 60%). Slope-cutting the straw, grinding the straw, and twisting the roll were designed to improve the physical and mechanical properties of long straw composites. Among them, slope-cutting the straw combined with twisting the roll provided the best properties. Compared to the extruded straw particle composite, the composite prepared with the new method improved the tensile strength, bending strength, impact strength, and water resistance by 358%, 151%, 416%, and 81%, respectively. Slope-cutting exposed more inner surface at the end of the straw. Scanning electron microscope observations showed that the straw inner surface was more tightly bonded with the LLDPE matrix than the outer surface. Meanwhile, the integrity of the straw was retained as much as possible, and thus greatly improved the performance of the resulting composites. Dynamic mechanical analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis show that the viscous deformation of the composites prepared by the new method was reduced and the rigidity was increased, and the combination of straw and LLDPE forms a dense composite material with good interfacial bonding. It greatly slowed down the degree of its pyrolysis.

Automated SEM-EDS Analysis of Transition Metals and Other Metallic Compounds Emitted from Incinerating Agricultural Waste Plastic Film

Illegal open burning, which is criticized as a leading source of air pollutants among agricultural activities, currently requires constant effort and attention from countries around the world. A speciation analysis method is required to examine the harmful effects of particulate matter generated by incineration on the human body. In this study, to simulate open-air incineration, infrastructure for incineration tests complying with US EPA method 5G was built, and a large-area analysis was conducted on the particulate matter through automated SEM-EDS. For test specimens, waste mulching LDPE collected by Korea Environment Corporation Dangjin Office was used. To raise the identifiability of analyzed particles, the specimen was sampled on a plate made of Ag, which has a high atomic number, three times. Metal particulate matter showed a high reaction to C and C-O. The ratio of metal particulate matters that reacted to C and C-O was in the order of Cu (94.1%) &gt; Fe (83.3%) &gt; Al (79.7%). In this study, it was verified that waste mulching adsorbs metal chemicals originating from the soil due to its properties and deterioration, and that when it is incinerated, it emits particulate matter containing transition metals and other metals that contribute to excessive ROS production and reduction.

Closed-loop supply chain potential of agricultural plastic waste: Economic and environmental assessment of bale wrap waste recycling in Finland

It is estimated that 12000 tons of plastic waste is annually generated from the agricultural sector in Finland, and more than half of it comprises bale wrap films. Up to 70% of plastic film waste from the agricultural sector in Finland goes into landfills, and only around 10% is recycled. Recycling plastic material is desirable in order to close the loop in achieving a circular economy. This paper aims to assess the environmental and economic implications of bale wrap collection and recycling within the Finnish context. Two different collection scenarios, S1 (once a year collection) and S2 (twice a year collection), covering 179 farms, were assessed. The research applied vehicle routing problem and environmental life cycle costing to quantify the cost and environmental impact per ton of granulate recycled material produced. It took a consequential approach, where the system boundary was expanded, and product substitution was considered. Overall, S1 offers 27% more economic savings with 36% less global warming potential (GWP) than S2. The collection phase, which has not commonly been included in existing recycling studies, shows significance in both scenarios. Although it only contributed about 0.7-1.2% to GWP, collection accounted for 32-36% of the total economic cost. Critical parameters were primarily associated with the market substitution factor and material loss during the recycling process. This study demonstrates that recycling bale wrap can provide environmental and economic savings. Furthermore, it shows the importance of decision-makers in prioritizing goals to balance environmental and economic objectives.

Study on flexible deformation of waste plastic film by fictitious particle method

Waste plastic sorting and recycling is an efficient and energy-saving way of domestic waste treatment. The deformation of waste plastic film affects the accuracy of plastic sorting. In this paper, a new method for calculating the deformation of waste plastic film, fictitious particle method, is proposed. The calculation model of film deformation is established and the formula of line element is deduced. The deformation law of plastic film is studied and the calculation results of fictitious particle method are obtained. The experimental platform was set up to obtain the film deformation data. The two-way fluid–solid coupling method was used for simulation experiment. Compared with the experimental results and simulation results, it is verified that the algorithm is in good agreement. The average error rate of the fictitious particle method is 4.26%, and the calculation time is 3.5 s. The algorithm has small amount of calculation and fast calculation speed. It laid the foundation for effectively improving the accuracy of wind separation and the optimization of plastic film wind separation machinery. • A new numerical calculation method called fictitious particle method is proposed. • The deformation law of the film in the separation process of waste plastic film was explored. • The fictitious particle method reduces the calculation amount and the calculation speed is fast. • The superiority of fictitious particle method in studying the deformation of waste plastic film was verified. • Improve the accuracy of wind sorting waste plastic film.

Household kindling behaviours and potential health risks of dioxins exposure in rural Northern China.

The study aimed to analyse the potential risk behind kindling behaviour in Chinese rural families and to provide insights for policymakers in environmental health. A cluster survey was performed on 113 participant's families who were living in the countryside in the north of China, using solid fuels for cooking and heating purpose. A questionnaire survey on their kindling behaviour and family information was administrated. Harmful kindling materials including plastic bottles, plastic planting plates, plastic film mulches, plastic bags, waste foams, and medium density fibreboard (MDF) are targeted in the survey. About one third of participant's families have ever used the listed harmful material for kindling. Based on literature review and the exposure proportion estimated from the questionnaire, we estimated the population attributable fractions (PAF) for all cancer type (10.48-19.48%) and type 2 diabetes (15.57-27.86%) attributable to dioxin exposure. The PAF estimates were greater than our expectation from the view of the global estimate PAF for cancer and T2D. Moreover, we found farming families are more likely to use their farming-related plastic byproducts as kindling material. There is a huge knowledge gap in environmental health in rural China. Although we were not able to measure the specific exposure data, our survey provided a new research aspect for environmental health research and health education. Strengthened environmental health education, better relevant laws, regulations, and supporting policies for regulating rural and farming waste disposal are highly recommended for policymakers in China.

Simulation and optimization design of cyclone separator for waste plastic film

Waste plastic sorting and recycling is a kind of efficient and energy-saving way of domestic garbage treatment. In this paper, the Cyclone based Multistage Separation Process for waste plastic film is presented, and the principle and structure of cyclone separator are introduced. The fluid analysis software Fluent is used to simulate and analyze the cyclone separator of waste plastic film. The comprehensive analysis shows that the optimal wind speed of cyclone separator is 18m/s, and under this speed the separation effect of particles in cyclone separator is the best. Based on this, the cyclone separator for waste plastic film was optimized, the structure size of cyclone separator for waste plastic film with three different densities was obtained, and the calculation basis for the design and manufacture of cyclone separator for waste plastic film was provided.

Possibility of incorporating waste plastic film flakes into warm-mix asphalt as a bitumen extender

A warm-mix asphalt (WMA) produced at 100 °C and incorporating waste plastic film flakes was evaluated. The investigation comprised two stages analysing the WMA and a conventional HMA with the same plastic material. The first stage established the WMA composition. The second stage comprised performance evaluation, for which the incorporation of plastic slightly increased stiffness, and fatigue resistance was similar for both mixtures. WMA with plastic was the worst in the uniaxial compression test and the best in the wheel-tracking test. The conclusion is that WMA incorporating waste plastic is a promising solution for low to intermediate traffic volume road infrastructures.

Towards a better understanding of odor removal from post-consumer plastic film waste: A kinetic study on deodorization efficiencies with different washing media

Mechanical recycling is to date the most commonly applied recycling technology. However, mechanical recycling of post-consumer plastics still faces many challenges, such as the presence of odorous constituents. Accordingly, recycling industry is looking for cost-effective solutions to improve the current washing efficiencies. However, scientific literature and basic understanding of deodorization processes are still scarce, which impedes efficient industrial optimization. Therefore, this study aims to obtain more fundamental insights in the deodorization mechanisms of plastic films in different washing media such as water, detergent, caustic soda, and ethyl acetate as organic solvent. The removal efficiencies of 19 odor components with a wide range of physicochemical properties were quantified via GC-MS analysis. The results revealed that deodorization depends on various factors such as temperature and physicochemical properties as polarity, volatility, and molecular weight of the odor components and the washing media. It was shown that polar washing media are less efficient compared to apolar media or media containing a detergent, achieving efficiencies of around 50% and 90%, respectively. The desorption processes can be accurately modeled by the isotherm model of Fritz-Schlunder in combination with a reversible first order kinetic model for the deodorization kinetics. Aspen Plus® process simulations of a water-based washing process reveal that at least 60% fresh water is needed to avoid saturation of the medium and undesired (re-)adsorption of odor components onto the plastics, which results in a substantial ecological footprint.