WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

Contamination, by soil, vegetable matter, and moisture increases processing (washing) costs and
residue disposal costs. In the Plastretur scheme, Norway, contamination levels of 20 per cent
(5 per cent soil and 15 per cent moisture) have been reported.The low density of the material also
impacts on the amounts of waste that can be collected, however, the seasonality of waste arisings
and the large volumes of material handled by individual farms can off-set this barrier.
Recycling agricultural containers is more restrictive, as many are used for the containment of
hazardous agro-chemicals. This contamination is the main barrier restricting the recycling of these
agricultural plastics.

Construction and demolition waste plastics

From insulation to piping, window frames to interior design, plastics are a widely used in the
construction sector. This is reflected in the data showing that this sector consumed 6.7 Mt plastics
in 2002, accounting for 17.6 per cent of total consumption of plastics in Western Europe.
However, there was a slight average decrease in plastics consumption between 2000 to 2002, due
to the broader economic downturn.
Construction waste
Construction waste can be categorised into one of groups, dependant on origin:
damaged materials and off-cuts
excess materials (i.e. gas bottles, sealant, paints etc.)
intermediate and pre-cursor waste products (i.e. waste oils)
packaging waste
While some waste plastics arises in the form of damaged products, such as piping, insulation and
window etc. construction waste plastics largely comprises of packaging products, such as films and
pallets. Packaging waste accounts for around 2 per cent of all construction and demolition waste,
with ADEME estimating that around 10 per cent of construction packaging waste is composed of
polypropylene and polyethylene polymers. In a study undertaken by the Building Research
Establishment in the UK, plastics were identified as accounting for 25 per cent of the packaging
fraction composition of which can be seen below.
Table 18: Plastics packaging composition

Plastic packaging product

Proportion of total packaging

( per cent)

PE wrapping

11.6

Containers

4.1

PS filling

3.6

Bubble wrap

3.0

PP bags

2.3

Other (include sealant tubes, sand bags etc.)

0.9

TOTAL PLASTICS

25.5
43

Source: Anderson et al. (2002)

43-" Construction Site Packaging Waste : A Market Position Report " by : M. Anderson, A. Conroy and C. Tsiokou, 2002. Building Research
Establishment, UK

39

WASTE PLASTICS RECYCLING A GOOD PRACTICES GUIDE

BY AND FOR LOCAL & REGIONAL AUTHORITIES

Demolition waste
The use of plastics in construction has continued to grow since the
1950s. Generally, more recent the building, the more plastic it contains.
Most of the plastics used in construction are for long-term applications
(e.g. window frames, pipes, insulation foam, electrical wires, wall
coverings). For instance the lifespan of PVC items (such as pipes and
window frames) ise stimated at 50 years and beyond. Consequently,
estimating the potential waste stock of this particular stream is difficult.
Forecasts on the amounts of waste, by application, which would be in
entering the waste stream in 2000 were 1,178,000 tonnes.

Table 19: Forecast of Waste plastics Generation from Building

& Construction (x1,000 tonnes)
1995

2000

2010

Floor & Wall Coverings

274

258

370

Pipes & Ducts

96

240

380

Insulation

84

132

400

Profiles

72

105

160

Lining

59

84

150

Windows

12

65

250

320

450

841

1,178

1,975

Fitted Furniture
TOTAL
44

Source: APME 1998

Selective collection of demolition waste is complicated and expensive, stemming from the resources
(mainly labour) necessary to separate the material.
Within the EU, arisings of C&D waste vary between 189 kg/inh/y for Sweden (where the wooden
buildings are common) to 720 kg/inh/y for Germany. Data on waste plastics (Report to DGXI,
European Commission construction and demolition waste management practices, and their economic impacts: Final Report February 1999 Report by Symonds, in association with ARGUS, COWI
and PRC Bouwcentrum) from other countries show the following:
The Netherlands, waste plastics represents 13 kg/inh/y (1.9 per cent of C&D waste), from
which five per cent are recycled
Belgium, waste plastics represents 1 kg/inh/y (0.15 per cent of C&D waste) from which
ten per cent are recycled
Denmark, waste plastics represents 1.9 kg/inh/y (0.4 per cent of C&D waste) from which
20 per cent are recycled
The Swedish National Testing and Research Institute studied45 the recycling potential of plastics
from buildings constructed in the 1960s and 1970s.

44- " Plastics a Material of Choice in Building and Construction : Plastic consumption and recovery in Western Europe 1995 " APME 1998
45- Determination of the potential for recycling of polymeric products found in building from the 1960s and 70s a case study N. Yarahmadi
et al .- SP Swedish National Testing and Research Institute January 1999

40