WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

TABLE OF CONTENT

Chapter 1

Objectives of the Guide ..................................................................................................................................p4

Chapter 2

Why Recycle Plastics?......................................................................................................................................p6

Chapter 3

Plastics and Waste Plastics ...........................................................................................................................p21

Chapter 4

Identification and Assessment of Important Waste Plastics Flows

for Local and Regional Authorities.............................................................................................................p31

Chapter 5

How can Local/Regional Authorities Improve Waste Plastics Collection?.....................................p44

Chapter 6

How can Local/Regional Authorities Improve Sorting and Related Activities? ...........................p54

Chapter 7

How to Promote the Development of Supply of and Demand for Recycled Plastics?..............p61

Chapter 8

The Costs and Tools to Promote Plastic Recycling ................................................................................p68

ANNEXES

Annex 1

A Review of Studies on the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) of Plastic Recycling ..................................p80

Annex 2

Thermo-plastics: Identification of Polymers and their Applications ...............................................p84

Annex 3

National, Regional and Local Waste Plastics Stocks .............................................................................p88

Annex 4

Example of producer responsibility scheme for waste plastics: Plastretur AS (Norway)..........p95

WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

CHAPTER 1
Objectives of the guide
This guide has been prepared by ACRR members, with the support of the European Plastics Industry
Federations. It reflects the growing interest amongst local and regional authorities (L/RAs) concerning
the management of waste plastics.
L/RAs are responsible for some or all of the following activities:
planning waste management strategies
implementing waste management plans (including collection and/or disposal)
monitoring the effectiveness of these plans and strategies
meeting various targets for landfill diversion and/or resource recovery
The rising proportion of plastics in municipal solid waste (MSW), a result of increased consumption,
has been the focus of growing interest since the early 1990s, and many L/RAs are now familiar with
the need to put in place proper systems for their collection and management.
However, waste plastics do exist in other waste streams and L/RAs are turning their attention to
recovering materials from these flows for a number of reasons:
the performance and price advantage of plastic is increasingly recognised by product
designers and becoming the material of choice for many new products - the potential
demand for plastic recyclate is therefore increasing
long-lived products (for example electrical equipment or window frames in houses),
which were sold decades ago are reaching the end of their lives - increasing volumes of
plastics from these sources are beginning to join the waste stream
a wish to reduce the need for additional waste disposal facilities, which require significant
investments and which may generate substantial public opposition
Given these issues, local and regional authorities are right to become more interested in recovering
waste plastics from non-household sources, such as construction and demolition sites, farms and
the retail sector.
This guide seeks to bring together information from many sources to help L/RAs identify the
practical issues associated with collecting and processing waste plastics, while identifying the
approaches needed to manage and exploit these wastes in ways which best suit their individual
characteristics.
This report does not aspire to be a strategic guide to the development of a waste plastics management
policy as this is dependant on a number of local factors, including:
waste availability (quality and quantity)
enthusiasm of the authorities
awareness and participation of the citizens