pps proceeding - Abstract Preview
pps proceeding
Symposium: S09 - Thermoforming, Blow Molding and Rotomolding
Oral Presentation
 
 

Recycling of Post Consumer Plastics Waste Using Rotational Moulding.

Martin Peter James (1)*, Hanna Paul (1), Kearns Mark (1)

(1) Polymer Processing Research Centre, Queen’s University Belfast - Northern Ireland - UnitedKingdom

For many applications, direct and continuous recycling of plastics packaging waste streams may not be feasible due to the diversity of such mixed waste resources and the degree of degradation in their properties. An alternative approach may be to encapsulate such mixed wastes in larger, longer life products where the properties of the product are less sensitive to the varying properties of the feedstock. One such area of interest is in rotational moulding, which is typically associated with large, one-piece, hollow plastic parts, e.g. large water tanks and oil tanks. In such applications it may be possible to encapsulate a substantial quantity of recycled polymer in certain types of products if the material characteristics can be matched to the process and the moulded part properties are matched to a specific rotationally moulded product. In this work the potential to use post consumer household waste streams in rotational moulding has been investigated through a major experimental programme. A number recyclate streams were sorted, cleaned and chipped to achieve a mainly polyethylene flake recyclate containing various percentages of polypropylene ranging from 5% up to 30%. The waste was largely obtained from household packaging waste products such as milk bottles, food trays and pots. A number of Polyethylene/Polypropylene recyclate blends were melt-compounded into pellets and cryogenically ground to produce a powder which was then rotationally moulded. It was found that the mechanical properties, and in particular the impact properties, of mono-layer mouldings were much lower than virgin rotomoulding grades PE, and therefore unsuitable for most applications. However, a significant improvement in impact strength was observed when a 2-layer construction incorporating recyclate as the outside layer and virgin PE as the inside layer, was manufactured. This work has shown that it is possible to incorporate up to 40% recyclate, depending on the application.