Characterization of plastic blends made from mixed plastics waste of different sources

Waste Manag Res. 2017 Feb;35(2):200-206. doi: 10.1177/0734242X16678066. Epub 2016 Nov 26.

Abstract

This paper studies the recyclability of construction and household plastic waste collected from local landfills. Samples were processed from mixed plastic waste by injection moulding. In addition, blends of pure plastics, polypropylene and polyethylene were processed as a reference set. Reference samples with known plastic ratio were used as the calibration set for quantitative analysis of plastic fractions in recycled blends. The samples were tested for the tensile properties; scanning electron microscope-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was used for elemental analysis of the blend surfaces and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis was used for the quantification of plastics contents.

Keywords: FTIR; Mixed plastic waste; elemental analysis; tensile properties.

MeSH terms

  • Construction Materials*
  • Family Characteristics
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Plastics / analysis
  • Plastics / chemistry*
  • Polyethylene
  • Polypropylenes
  • Recycling / methods*
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • Waste Products*

Substances

  • Plastics
  • Polypropylenes
  • Waste Products
  • Polyethylene