ABSTRACT
Because disposal of post-consumer polymers is being further constrained by legislation and escalating costs, considerable demand exists for alternatives to disposal or land lling. Among the alternatives available are source reduction, re-use, recycling, and recovery of the inherent energy value through waste-to-energy incineration and processed fuel applications. Each of these options potentially reduces waste and conserves natural resources. In some countries, especially in the United States, plastics recycling was investigated in the late 1980s. Municipal solid wastes (MSW) can be divided into two categories. The rst category is based on product type, and the other is based on material type (Figure 18.1). The latter are durable and non-durable goods, containers and packaging, food wastes, yard trimmings, and inorganic wastes. In the other words, material-type categories are paper, paperboards, glass, leather, rubber, plastics, textiles, wood, food, metals, miscellaneous inorganic wastes, and other waste.
