PLASTICS AND ENVIRONMENT
Call for separate recycling stream for biodegradable plastics / More investment in infrastructure needed in Europe
Industry association European Bioplastics (EUBP, Berlin / Germany; www.european-bioplastics.org) is echoing a call from Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE, Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticsrecyclers.eu – see Plasteurope.com of 19.09.2017) to establish separate streams for recycling biodegradable plastics in order to improve waste management efficiency.
While biodegradable plastics are unlikely to cause a problem if they enter a mechanical recycling stream, the situation is reversed should non-biodegradable plastics enter the organic waste stream.
EUBP said the contamination of organic waste streams by misthrows of non-biodegradable plastics is high in Europe, and poses a real problem for composting facilities because it negatively affects compost quality. This problem can only be tackled by establishing mandatory separate collection of organic waste, supported and facilitated by using biodegradable plastic bags and packaging, and educating consumers, the association said. It cited projects in Milan, Munich and Paris, where the use of compostable bags is said to have positively affected the efficiency and quality of separate organic waste collection.
The share of biodegradable plastics designed for organic recycling that is sold in the EU is currently quite small. Their impact in mechanical recycling streams has been studied by the Wageningen University & Research (Wageningen / The Netherlands; www.wur.nl), which detected levels of no higher than 0.3% and found no negative effects on the properties of recycled film products that contained starch film and PLA film recyclates.
Research by Knoten Weimar (www.bionet.net), part of the Bauhaus-University Weimar (Weimar / Germany; www.uni-weimar.de), also showed that if biodegradable plastic products do enter mechanical recycling streams, they can easily be recovered by using sorting technology such as near infrared (NIR) that can easily detect PLA, polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) and other starch or cellulose-based materials.
As well as urging stakeholders to consider both mechanical and organic recycling schemes, EUBP is calling for further investments in sound waste management infrastructure across Europe, and comprehensive projects to expand consumers’ knowledge about correct waste disposal.
While biodegradable plastics are unlikely to cause a problem if they enter a mechanical recycling stream, the situation is reversed should non-biodegradable plastics enter the organic waste stream.
EUBP said the contamination of organic waste streams by misthrows of non-biodegradable plastics is high in Europe, and poses a real problem for composting facilities because it negatively affects compost quality. This problem can only be tackled by establishing mandatory separate collection of organic waste, supported and facilitated by using biodegradable plastic bags and packaging, and educating consumers, the association said. It cited projects in Milan, Munich and Paris, where the use of compostable bags is said to have positively affected the efficiency and quality of separate organic waste collection.
The share of biodegradable plastics designed for organic recycling that is sold in the EU is currently quite small. Their impact in mechanical recycling streams has been studied by the Wageningen University & Research (Wageningen / The Netherlands; www.wur.nl), which detected levels of no higher than 0.3% and found no negative effects on the properties of recycled film products that contained starch film and PLA film recyclates.
Research by Knoten Weimar (www.bionet.net), part of the Bauhaus-University Weimar (Weimar / Germany; www.uni-weimar.de), also showed that if biodegradable plastic products do enter mechanical recycling streams, they can easily be recovered by using sorting technology such as near infrared (NIR) that can easily detect PLA, polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) and other starch or cellulose-based materials.
As well as urging stakeholders to consider both mechanical and organic recycling schemes, EUBP is calling for further investments in sound waste management infrastructure across Europe, and comprehensive projects to expand consumers’ knowledge about correct waste disposal.
17.10.2017 Plasteurope.com [237994-0]
Published on 17.10.2017