ABSTRACT
The overall recycling rate for plastics in 1990 was only 2.2 percent. In discussing recycling of plastics, it is crucial to realize that plastics are not all the same, and cannot be mixed together indiscriminately for reuse, if maintenance of their unique and useful characteristics is desired. One primary distinction between plastics is that of thermoplastics versus thermosets. The Council for Solid Waste Solutions estimated recovery of industrial scrap plastic by primarily postconsumer plastic recycling firms alone at 667,000 tons in 1990. Postconsumer plastics are rarely suited for primary recycling, usually being relegated to the less stringent end uses associated with secondary recycling. Separation of plastics by resin from a source separated collection of recyclables containing a variety of rigid plastic containers is an approach being adopted in a number of localities. Such separation can be accomplished at one of three levels – macrosorting, microsorting, or molecular sorting.
