Towards Higher Quality of Recycled Plastics: Limitations from the Material’s Perspective

Ayah Alassali, Caterina Picuno, Zhi Kai Chong, Jinyang Guo, Roman Maletz and Kerstin Kuchta
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Ayah Alassali: Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Sustainable Resource and Waste Management, Hamburg University of Technology, Blohmstrasse 15, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
Caterina Picuno: Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Sustainable Resource and Waste Management, Hamburg University of Technology, Blohmstrasse 15, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
Zhi Kai Chong: Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Sustainable Resource and Waste Management, Hamburg University of Technology, Blohmstrasse 15, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
Jinyang Guo: Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Sustainable Resource and Waste Management, Hamburg University of Technology, Blohmstrasse 15, 21079 Hamburg, Germany
Roman Maletz: Institute of Waste Management and Circular Economy, Technische Universität Dresden, 01796 Pirna, Germany
Kerstin Kuchta: Institute of Environmental Technology and Energy Economics, Sustainable Resource and Waste Management, Hamburg University of Technology, Blohmstrasse 15, 21079 Hamburg, Germany

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 23, 1-22

Abstract: The increasing consumption of plastics and plastic products results in correspondingly substantial volumes of waste, which poses considerable environmental burdens. With the ongoing environmental actions, the application of circular economy on this waste stream is becoming inevitable. In this paper, the topics of plastics recycling, circular economy on plastics, and challenges to plastic waste recycling are critically reviewed. In the first part of this paper, the development of research on plastic recycling was viewed from 1950 until 2020 using the scientific database Web of Science, and 682 related studies were found and used to assess the changing research priorities along that timeline. The following sections discuss the potentials and requirements to enhance the quality of the produced recycled plastic, in connection with the factors that currently limit it. In conclusion, the quality of recycled plastic is generally determined by the homogeneity of the recovered plastic feed. There are various strategies which could be implemented to overcome the hindrances identified in the paper and to improve the quality of the recycled plastic, such as working on enhanced product designs for minimised waste heterogeneity and controlling the materials’ degree of contamination by applying advanced sorting.

Keywords: plastic waste; mechanical recycling; recycled material quality; limitations plastic recycling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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