Latent Recycling Potential of Multilayer Films in Austrian Waste Management
This work presents a hand sorting trial of Austrian plastic packaging, which showed that according to an extrapolation of the 170,000 t separately collected waste collected in Austria, 30 wt% are flexible 2D plastic packaging. Further, the applications for these materials have been catalogued. The c...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Polymers |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/8/1553 |
| _version_ | 1797444095549898752 |
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| author | Gerald Koinig Bettina Rutrecht Karl Friedrich Chiara Barretta Daniel Vollprecht |
| author_facet | Gerald Koinig Bettina Rutrecht Karl Friedrich Chiara Barretta Daniel Vollprecht |
| author_sort | Gerald Koinig |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This work presents a hand sorting trial of Austrian plastic packaging, which showed that according to an extrapolation of the 170,000 t separately collected waste collected in Austria, 30 wt% are flexible 2D plastic packaging. Further, the applications for these materials have been catalogued. The composition of these films was evaluated via Fourier-Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy, which showed that 31% of all films were made of polyethene, 39% of polypropylene, 11% of polyethene–polyethene terephthalate composite, and 8% of a polyethene–polypropylene composite, further resulting in the calculation that of all flexible packaging, 20 wt% are multilayer films. These findings were used to calculate the latent potential for raising the current recycling quota of 25.7% to the mandated rate of 55% in 2030. To this end, scenarios depicting different approaches to sorting and recycling small films were evaluated. It was calculated that through improving the sorting of films the recycling rate could be increased to 35.5%. This approach allows for the recycling of monolayer films by avoiding contamination with foreign materials introduced by multilayer films that impede the recyclates’ mechanical properties. The evaluation showed that sorting multilayer films of this fraction could raise the recycling quota further to 38.9%. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:06:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-68659eaedec640a89b6c2dedff496172 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4360 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T13:06:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Polymers |
| spelling | doaj.art-68659eaedec640a89b6c2dedff4961722023-11-30T21:47:20ZengMDPI AGPolymers2073-43602022-04-01148155310.3390/polym14081553Latent Recycling Potential of Multilayer Films in Austrian Waste ManagementGerald Koinig0Bettina Rutrecht1Karl Friedrich2Chiara Barretta3Daniel Vollprecht4Chair of Waste Processing Technology and Waste Management, Department of Environmental and Energy Process Engineering, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz Josef Straße 18, 8700 Leoben, AustriaChair of Waste Processing Technology and Waste Management, Department of Environmental and Energy Process Engineering, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz Josef Straße 18, 8700 Leoben, AustriaChair of Waste Processing Technology and Waste Management, Department of Environmental and Energy Process Engineering, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz Josef Straße 18, 8700 Leoben, AustriaPolymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH, Roseggerstraße 12, 8700 Leoben, AustriaChair of Waste Processing Technology and Waste Management, Department of Environmental and Energy Process Engineering, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz Josef Straße 18, 8700 Leoben, AustriaThis work presents a hand sorting trial of Austrian plastic packaging, which showed that according to an extrapolation of the 170,000 t separately collected waste collected in Austria, 30 wt% are flexible 2D plastic packaging. Further, the applications for these materials have been catalogued. The composition of these films was evaluated via Fourier-Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy, which showed that 31% of all films were made of polyethene, 39% of polypropylene, 11% of polyethene–polyethene terephthalate composite, and 8% of a polyethene–polypropylene composite, further resulting in the calculation that of all flexible packaging, 20 wt% are multilayer films. These findings were used to calculate the latent potential for raising the current recycling quota of 25.7% to the mandated rate of 55% in 2030. To this end, scenarios depicting different approaches to sorting and recycling small films were evaluated. It was calculated that through improving the sorting of films the recycling rate could be increased to 35.5%. This approach allows for the recycling of monolayer films by avoiding contamination with foreign materials introduced by multilayer films that impede the recyclates’ mechanical properties. The evaluation showed that sorting multilayer films of this fraction could raise the recycling quota further to 38.9%.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/8/1553multilayermonolayerrecycling rate |
| spellingShingle | Gerald Koinig Bettina Rutrecht Karl Friedrich Chiara Barretta Daniel Vollprecht Latent Recycling Potential of Multilayer Films in Austrian Waste Management Polymers multilayer monolayer recycling rate |
| title | Latent Recycling Potential of Multilayer Films in Austrian Waste Management |
| title_full | Latent Recycling Potential of Multilayer Films in Austrian Waste Management |
| title_fullStr | Latent Recycling Potential of Multilayer Films in Austrian Waste Management |
| title_full_unstemmed | Latent Recycling Potential of Multilayer Films in Austrian Waste Management |
| title_short | Latent Recycling Potential of Multilayer Films in Austrian Waste Management |
| title_sort | latent recycling potential of multilayer films in austrian waste management |
| topic | multilayer monolayer recycling rate |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/14/8/1553 |
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