Characterization and Processing of Plastics from Minnesota's Demonstration Project for the Recovery of End-of-Life Electronics

ARC Paper PDF - 50K The full paper is also online on the American Plastics Council Web site.

Of the 575 tons of electronic equipment collected and processed during the three-month Plug Into Recycling pilot project, plastics made up 4.4 percent by weight – nearly 30.5 tons.

In total, 31,588 pounds of plastics were shipped to MBA Polymers (Richmond, Calif.) for further study. Plastics from televisions comprised 54 percent of the sample, computer plastics comprised 38 percent, and miscellaneous plastics comprised 8 percent.

This paper summarizes what was learned during the project about processing plastics, as well as what resins and contaminants are typically present in the residential electronics stream. In addition, because a specific goal of the project was to evaluate recovered plastics for use in high-end applications, physical properties were obtained on pelletized flame retardant HIPS material from televisions.

This paper was presented to the Society of Plastics Engineers Annual Recycling Conference (November 2000) in Dearborn, Michigan.

Background

The Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance (OEA) sought private sector participation in the project to achieve optimal planning, scope and results from the effort, and to ensure private sector participation in identifying how best to capture and recycle used electronic products from residents.

A partnership ensued among Sony Electronics Inc., Waste Management-Asset Recovery Group (WM-ARG), Panasonic-Matsushita and the American Plastics Council. Each of these partners pledged a minimum of $25,000 to the project. Initial planning for the project began in the fall of 1998.

In early 1999, the OEA issued a Request for Participation to identify potential collection sites. The selected site hosts conducted collections between July 31 and October 31, 1999. WM-ARG transported used products from the collection sites or regional storage depots to a central processing facility where the company completed processing in January 2000.

The project partners attempted to draw on the collective experience of previously reported data from used electronics collection programs. These efforts included those by Hennepin County, Minnesota, and those reported by the Common Sense Initiative (CSI) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA).