Closed-loop recycling of polypropylene: A case study on mechanical recycling of separately collected yogurt cups in Austria

Traxler, Ines; Laske, Stephan; Fischer, Joerg

doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107537

Resources, Conservation and Recycling

2024

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.107537

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Closed-loop recycling of polypropylene: A case study on mechanical recycling of separately collected yogurt cups in Austria

Ines Traxler,

Stephan Laske,

Joerg Fischer

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Cited by 5 publications

References 39 publications

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Design and manufacturing diversity undermine circularity: The case of a simple yogurt cup

Schlossnikl,

Gritsch,

Koch

et al. 2025

Resources, Conservation and Recycling

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Design and manufacturing diversity undermine circularity: The case of a simple yogurt cup

Schlossnikl,

Gritsch,

Koch

et al. 2025

Resources, Conservation and Recycling

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Critical properties of plastic packaging waste for recycling: A case study on non-beverage plastic bottles in an urban MSW system in Austria

Gritsch,

Breslmayer,

Rainer

et al. 2024

Waste Management

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Assessment of Different Application Grades of Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) Polyolefins from Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in the United States

Cecon,

Pham,

Curtzwiler

et al. 2024

ACS Appl. Polym. Mater.

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The recycling of plastics has been gaining traction in the following years as many companies, organizations, and governments are pushing toward a more circular economy. However, plastic recycling rates are still small compared to those of plastic production, especially for polyolefins, such as highdensity polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP). With the goal of finding applications for recycled plastic resin, recyclers can face some challenges associated with the heterogeneity in the polymer properties of plastic waste streams, which could hinder the full potential of recycling due to the lack of a consistent feedstock. This study assessed how an additional sorting step of recycled HDPE and PP streams, separating them into two categories based on the previous application, impacts the recycled polymer properties, such as physical, molecular, and thermal. It was demonstrated that manually separating HDPE articles previously processed by extrusion blow molding (EBM) or injection molding (IM) and PP articles by thermoforming (TF) or IM could yield recycled resins with more consistent properties, considering the significant differences between them. This highlights that an additional sorting step would allow recyclers to target more premium or currently unattainable plastic processing applications with postconsumer recycled (PCR) resins, which could significantly promote an increase in plastic recycling rates. Nevertheless, the development of new technologies is needed to automate this extra sorting step, as with the increase in scale manual sortation could not be feasible and cost-effective, reducing the attractiveness of using PCR resins in comparison to virgin ones.

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Closed-loop recycling of polypropylene: A case study on mechanical recycling of separately collected yogurt cups in Austria

Cited by 5 publications

References 39 publications

Design and manufacturing diversity undermine circularity: The case of a simple yogurt cup

Design and manufacturing diversity undermine circularity: The case of a simple yogurt cup

Critical properties of plastic packaging waste for recycling: A case study on non-beverage plastic bottles in an urban MSW system in Austria

Assessment of Different Application Grades of Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) Polyolefins from Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) in the United States

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