The prospects for the application of plastics in the electrical and electronics (E&E) industry continue to be good. The use of plastics in this segment will grow faster than that of all other materials, which means that, in the year 2000, plastics will account for more than 2.5m t, or nearly 20% of the total weight of electrical and electronic equipment in Western Europe. The relative proportion of polymers in the overall application of materials in the E&E industry has also continuously risen over the last 20 years. These are the results of a recently published study by the Association of Plastics Manufacturers in Europe (APME, Avenue B. van Nieuwenhuyse 1, B-1160 Brüssel).

According to this study, 882,000 t plastics were processed in 1980 by manufacturers of electrical and electronic equipment, equivalent to 15.3% of the total volume of material used. By 1990, the figure had risen to 1.84m t (18.6%) and by 1995, the volume had gone up to 2.129m t (19%). Of this, 870,000 t or 41% was used for cable production. The second biggest segment was large household appliances with 528,000 t (25%), followed by “brown goods” (television and audio equipment, video recorders) with 233,000 t (11%). Computer equipment (113,000 t, 5%) and telecommunication products (62,000 t, 3%) were relatively small in volume terms, but the picture is reversed when we look at the relative share of plastics in the total volume of material processed. With telecommunication equipment, the figure was 58%, and with small household appliances, 35%.

As far as the types of processed plastics are concerned, the scene is dominated by the standard plastics. In 1995, 541,000 t PVC, mainly for cable insulation, were processed, equivalent to 25% of all the plastics used in this market. PE took second place with 403,000 t (19%), followed by ABS with 288,000 t (14%), PS with 283,000 t (13%) and PP with 247,000 t (12%). Technical plastics registered much lower processing quantities. Germany was the biggest consumer of plastics in the E&E sector, where 23% were used, followed by France and UK (each 16%) and Italy (13%).

Whereas the data on the consumption of virgin plastic material in the E&E market is relatively detailed, much less information is available on the recycling of plastics in this segment. According to APME, 812,000 t plastics waste were generated in this market segment in 1995, equivalent to 15.5% of total waste. 39% of this came from large household appliances that had exceeded their useful life, and 23% from cables. A further 8% of the plastics waste came from “brown” goods, 8% from small domestic appliances, 7% from computer equipment and another 7% from industrial equipment. All in all, waste plastics from electrical and electronic equipment accounted for only 5% of total plastics waste. After 620,000 t in 1992 and the previously mentioned 812,000 t in 1995, the volume of plastics waste in the E&E segment will, according to APME estimates, rise to over 1.1m t by the year 2000.

As far as the method of recycling is concerned, the plastics manufacturers organised in APME are placing priority not on mechanical recycling but on feedstock recycling or energy recovery. Mechanical recycling – also called material recycling – was not always practicable, because plastics components are often very small and particularly difficult to separate from the other materials. This is why this form of recycling was being used mainly for computer housings, monitors and keyboards, with major manufacturers taking them back for reprocessing. Feedstock recycling, in which the secondary plastics are converted, after depolymerisation, into Syncrude oil by hydrogenation, was practicable on a commercial scale. Tests carried out at Kohleöl-Anlage Bottrop GmbH (KAB, In der Welheimer Mark, D-46238 Bottrop) had been successful, said the report.

APME brochures (English): “Plastics – a material of choice for the electrical and electronic industry”: PIE-No. 42569 – “Feedstock recycling of electrical and electronic plastics waste”: PIE-No. 42570.