PMID- 37699294
OWN - NLM
STAT- Publisher
LR  - 20230912
IS  - 1879-2456 (Electronic)
IS  - 0956-053X (Linking)
VI  - 171
DP  - 2023 Sep 10
TI  - Evaluation of mixed #3-7 plastic waste from material recovery facilities (MRFs) 
      in the United States.
PG  - 313-323
LID - S0956-053X(23)00566-4 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.09.002 [doi]
AB  - Plastic recycling rates are still low in the United States (U.S.), with less than 
      10% of municipal solid waste (MSW) plastic being recycled. Most unrecycled 
      plastics are identified by Resin Identification Codes (RIC) from #3-7, which are 
      commonly destined for landfill or waste-to-energy facilities (WTE). Therefore, 
      the composition and quality of outbound bales containing #3-7 plastics were 
      assessed to understand the potential to increase recycling rates. Three bales 
      were sourced from three different Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) located in 
      the United States. Each bale was manually sorted and characterized for quality 
      and performance via multiple plastic characterization techniques. Considerable 
      differences in bale composition were observed between MRFs, which correlated with 
      the technology used by each MRF in the sorting process. The differences were 
      substantial in the residual levels of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and 
      high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which are highly desired for mechanical 
      recycling processes and not expected in #3-7 plastics bales. Traditional 
      recycling processes including washing, extrusion, and injection molding of the 
      sorted material were employed prior to the physical, thermal, and molecular 
      characterization. Despite differences in bale composition by plastic type, some 
      polymer properties were similar across MRFs. This research suggests that 
      landfill-diverted mixed plastic waste can be utilized in the mechanical recycling 
      of currently unrecycled materials, as processes can be designed to work with 
      consistent polymer properties. It also highlights the need to upgrade the sorting 
      systems to prevent waste feedstocks, which can be recycled with current 
      technologies, from contaminating other plastic streams or reach landfills.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
FAU - Cecon, Victor S
AU  - Cecon VS
AD  - Polymer and Food Protection Consortium, Iowa State University, 536 Farmhouse 
      Lane, Ames IA, 50011, USA; Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa 
      State University, 536 Farmhouse Lane, Ames IA, 50011, USA.
FAU - Curtzwiler, Greg W
AU  - Curtzwiler GW
AD  - Polymer and Food Protection Consortium, Iowa State University, 536 Farmhouse 
      Lane, Ames IA, 50011, USA; Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa 
      State University, 536 Farmhouse Lane, Ames IA, 50011, USA.
FAU - Vorst, Keith L
AU  - Vorst KL
AD  - Polymer and Food Protection Consortium, Iowa State University, 536 Farmhouse 
      Lane, Ames IA, 50011, USA; Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Iowa 
      State University, 536 Farmhouse Lane, Ames IA, 50011, USA. Electronic address: 
      kvorst@iastate.edu.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230910
PL  - United States
TA  - Waste Manag
JT  - Waste management (New York, N.Y.)
JID - 9884362
SB  - IM
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Material recovery facility
OT  - Mechanical recycling
OT  - Plastics recycling
COIS- Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known 
      competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared 
      to influence the work reported in this paper.
EDAT- 2023/09/13 00:41
MHDA- 2023/09/13 00:41
CRDT- 2023/09/12 18:02
PHST- 2023/04/05 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/08/29 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2023/09/02 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/09/13 00:41 [medline]
PHST- 2023/09/13 00:41 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/09/12 18:02 [entrez]
AID - S0956-053X(23)00566-4 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.09.002 [doi]
PST - aheadofprint
SO  - Waste Manag. 2023 Sep 10;171:313-323. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2023.09.002.