Waste feedstocks in focus
Plastic waste in WEEE, ELV, and CDW
NONTOX has been focused on studying technologies for recycling plastics containing hazardous chemicals, which are commonly found in three industrial waste streams in electronics (WEEE), vehicles (ELV) and construction and demolition (CDW). In the EU, the two first sectors are also governed by producer responsibility organisation (PRO) schemes, through which producers are made accountable of the end-of-life collection and treatment of waste.
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
Plastics form around 17-20% of content in WEEE. As the annual volume of WEEE in the EU is estimated to be over 50 million tonnes, this equates to around 10 million tonnes of waste plastic from this waste stream each year. WEEE is categorised into 6 groups. These are temperature exchange equipment (such as fridges), monitors and equipment with large screens, lamp bulbs, large equipment such as washing machines, small equipment such as vacuum cleaners and small IT/computer/communications equipment. In the EU, the collection and management of e-waste is governed by a PRO scheme.
Specific challenges in recycling plastics in WEEE:
• Plastics are already recycled from WEEE, but the system needs to be developed and scaled up further.
• The consumer demand for more sustainable products has not yet been translated into more circular material systems.
• There is shortcomings in product design that enables efficient recycling and reuse (e.g., ease of dismantling, availability of information, etc.).
• Recycling systems also need to be scaled up: there is a need to develop the collection of waste and stop waste exports.
• There are further policy opportunities in public procurement, in expanding eco-design directive, in increasing producers responsibility and in other policies.
• There also remains a lack of approval for food products; However, more advanced recycling of plastics and multilayer structures may enable future use.
End-of-Life Vehicles (ELV)
Plastics currently form around 15% of ELV waste, equating to around 0.75-0,9 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. The potential for plastics recycling is increasing, although it is currently underdeveloped. Cars have a lifespan of around 13 years, which means that the content of the current ELV waste stream is dependent on how cars were built 13 years ago. As cars are now being built using more plastic content than in previous years, this is an important area to further develop recycling. In the EU, also ELV waste is managed with PRO schemes.
Specific challenges in recycling plastics in ELV:
• The value chain in automotive sector is very long both in terms stakeholders and actors, but also in relation to the lifespan of the products.
• PRO’s do not represent producers, but instead they represent retailers and importers with focus mainly on waste management and not on other eco-design considerations.
• Plastic composites with functional requirements in ELV are difficult to recycle as they may include contaminates.
• Due to inefficient collection, pre-treatment, and recycling processes but also as a result of long product age the quality of collected plastic waste is low.
• Reselling valuable parts before recycling lowers the value of the waste.
• The overall recycling targets are being met and there are therefore currently no proper incentives to improve recycling.
Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW)
Plastics form a very small portion of all CDW, at around 0.3%. However, CDW is a very large waste stream, so this still equates to about 0.9 million tonnes every year. This is scattered across Europe, with plastics often attached to other materials or just one component in glues and paints. Additionally, CDW waste is varied in content and not continuously generated, originating from construction, renovation and demolition sites, and many materials have uncertain composition. Together these different factors make it a significant challenge to collect, sort and recycle.
Specific challenges in recycling plastics in CDW:
• The heterogeneous nature of waste with potential contaminants, multi-layers and sandwich constructions, and the small fraction of plastic in the overall waste stream.
• The long lifespan of materials and the lack of information on material contents.
• The lack of on-site sorting and separate collection of different plastics (for example (PVC, PS, XPS) and limited recycling possibilities due to low quality of waste.
• No PRO scheme and no legal targets for separate sorting and material specific recycling.