Abstract
Putting waste plastics in landfill is safe though it is wasteful of their potential value as secondary raw materials or as energy. The debate regarding the best way to realise this potential is complex. Plastics offer a choice; mechanical recycling into second life plastics products, or conversion back into feedstock for re-use in either the chemicals or oil industries, or ultimately as replacement for traditional fuels for power generation. Finding the best balance between these in terms of environmental benefit and overall cost to society is currently proving to be a key issue, and largely influenced by legislation introduced to promote recycling practice. Recycling involves major procurement, quality and technical problems.
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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Bevis, M.J. (1998). Economic Aspects of Plastics Recycling. In: Akovali, G., Bernardo, C.A., Leidner, J., Utracki, L.A., Xanthos, M. (eds) Frontiers in the Science and Technology of Polymer Recycling. NATO ASI Series, vol 351. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1626-0_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1626-0_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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