Technology for the reclamation of collected PET bottle (existing technologies for the material recycling of spent plastic containers)

摘要

Containers and packaging wastes account for more than half of the garbage which is discharged from household, and almost of those wastes are made of plastic or paper. The recycling of plastic waste consists of many types of recycling loops which depend on the characteristics of plastic discharged. It is desirable to reclaim plastic wastes in a loop as small as possible from the place where the wastes are discharged. However, there are various constraints on the recycling of plastic waste discharged from household. Necessary tests have been made to assure the quality of reclaimed resin through the pilot plant for the reclamation of collected PET bottle with a capacity of 8,000 ton/year which was constructed at Iga-cho, Mie Prefecture. Accordingly, the results of the tests and discussion will be introduced in this paper. A system to bear the cost for containers and packaging recycling has been established by the Law for Promotion of Sorted Collection and recycling of Containers and Packaging that stipulates an obligation to recycle them, and leads the increase of PET bottle collection rate to 22.8% in the fiscal year 1999. Well-sorted collection has been also achieved due to the system. People have change the thinking of PET bottles that would have been collected as waste, but have instead been collected as raw material. Therefore, if these tendency are settled, and if confidence between consumers and recycling businesses grows, it is expected that spent PET bottles will be able to be recycled to the resin of high quality in the future with a lower cost by much more simplified process.