Fact Sheet 

Recycling the Hard Stuff 

Fact Sheet 

Recycling the Hard Stuff 

“	This is a new-to-theworld industry with 

huge energy savings. 

Recycling plastics uses 

only roughly 10 percent 

of the energy that it 

takes to make a pound 

of plastic from virgin 

materials.” 

Dr. Mike Biddle


President


MBA Polymers


Of the estimated 22.4 million tons of plastics produced in the United 

States in 1998, only about 5.4 percent were recovered for recycling. 

Plastics used in durable goods (such as cars, electronics, and appliances) account for the largest proportion by weight of plastics in 

U.S. municipal solid waste (MSW). However, the mixed waste streams 

characteristic of these harder, engineered plastics are difficult to 

separate and, thus, complex to recycle. New separation technologies 

could increase recycling rates for plastics significantly. 

Separating Plastics 

The technical difficulties and high cost associated with separating plastics have 

limited recycling in the past. Post-consumer products often contain as many as 20 

different types of plastic materials as well as non-plastic materials such as wood, 

rubber, glass, and fibers. In addition, the dynamic nature of the plastics business 

produces a steady stream of new products and pigment types, which can pose a 

challenge to the recycling infrastructure. Consequently, the cost of producing virgin materials is often less than the cost of collecting and processing post-consumer plastics. Three new separation technologies, developed by MBA Polymers, 

Argonne National Laboratory, and Recovery Plastics International (RPI), could 

break down these barriers and increase plastics recycling. 

Automated Separation 

MBA Polymers, with early financial support from the American Plastics Council, 

U.S. Department of Energy NICE3 program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Department of Commerce (NIST ATP), State of California CalTIPP, and Vehicle 

Recycling Partnership, developed a process in which plastic scraps from computers 

and other electronics are first ground into small pieces. Magnets 

pastics in MSW (thousand tons) 

Plastics in Products in MSW (1999) and eddy-current separators then extract ferrous and non-ferrous 

metals. Paper and other lighter materials are removed with jets of 

plastics generated 

% recycled 

0% 

40% 

31.9% 

10.6% 

3.3% 

2.6% 

3.8% air. Finally, a proprietary sorting, cleaning, and testing process 7000 involving various technologies, enables the company to separate 

6000 different types of plastics and compound them into pelletized 

5000 products comparable to virgin plastics. 

4000 Froth Flotation 

3000 Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), with support from the U.S. 

2000 Department of Energy, developed a process to separate acrylonitrile-butadiene styrene (ABS) and high-impact polystyrene 1000 (HIPS)—two common forms of plastics—from recovered automo0 durable nondurable soft drink milk and other bags, sacks, other biles and appliances. The froth flotation process separates two or 

goods goods bottles water bottles containers and wraps packaging more equivalent-density plastics by modifying the effective density 
of the plastics. The key to this technology is carefully controlling the 

chemistry of the aqueous solution— 

the “froth”—so that small gas bubbles attach to the material’s surface 

and enable the plastic to float to 

the top. 

Skin Flotation 

Recovery Plastics International (RPI) 

has developed an automated process 

capable of recovering up to 80 percent 

of the plastics found in automobile 

cate that processing recycled plastics 

will cost the same or less than manufacturing plastics from virgin materials. Operation costs for processing 

recycled plastics are estimated in the 

range of 10-20 cents per pound, 

which should make recycled plastic 

resin competitive with costs for existing virgin plastics. 

Initial capital costs can be prohibitive, but the payback period is relatively short. RPI estimates that the 

primary energy use fuel use electricity use total 

energy use 

energy use (MBtu/ton) 

Projected Energy Savings 

virgin materials 

recycled materials 

0 

20 

40 

60 

80 

100 

120 

shredder residue (ASR). RPI predicts 

that its new skin flotation technology 

could divert approximately one-third of 

the estimated 7 million tons of ASR 

disposed of each year. The process 

begins with the separation of light lint 

materials, followed by the removal of 

rocks and metals, granulation, washing, and, finally, automated “skin 

flotation” separation. This final step 

adds a skin of plasticizer to make the 

surface of the targeted plastic 

hydrophobic. Air bubbles then can 

attach to the plastic, allowing it to 

float above denser, uncoated pieces. 

Benefits 

Plastics recovery, in addition to 

increased diversion from disposal, 

results in significant energy savings 

(an estimated 50-75 MBtu/ton of 

material recycled) compared with the 

production of virgin materials. 

Reducing energy use, in turn, leads to 

reductions in greenhouse gas emissions due to avoided fuel use. 

Limiting the plastics that enter 

landfills can lower the costs associated with waste disposal by reducing tipping fees. In addition, plastics recyclers expect to sell recycled 

plastic pellets for as much as 70 

percent of the typical price for virgin plastics. Recyclers will profit 

from selling their product, while 

purchasers will benefit from the 

reduced price of recycled plastic. 

Challenges 

MBA Polymers has been fully commercial for more than a year. Ironically, 

one of the greatest barriers to operational expansion is the lack of available material. Computer recyclers 

increasingly find it cheaper to export 

intact units rather than dismantle the 

units in the United States. The market 

demand for recycled plastic resin is 

clearly growing, but the difficulty is 

collecting the material and getting it 

to the recyclers economically. A more 

developed infrastructure is needed to 

provide separators with a constant 

stream of source material. 

The other separation technologies are 

still largely pre-commercial. The next 

step for these emerging technologies 

is to conduct pilot studies and establish permanent facilities. 

The economic viability of these separation technologies is still largely 

speculative, but projections made by 

Argonne National Laboratory and 

Recovery Plastics International indiinitial capital cost to install a commercial-size plastics recycling facility 

(capable of producing 20 million 

pounds per year) ranges from $2-5 

million and has a typical payback 

period of one to three years. The two 

other separators estimate two-year 

paybacks for capital costs. 

Additional 

Information 

American Council for an EnergyEfficient Economy (ACEEE) 

http://www.aceee.org/ 

MBA Polymers 

Dr. Mike Biddle 

Mbiddle@mbapolymers.com

http://www.mbapolymers.com/ 

Argonne National Laboratory 

http://www.anl.gov/

Recovery Plastics International 

Ronald Kobler 

rpislc@efortress.com 

EPA’s Climate and Waste Program increases 

awareness of climate change and its link to 

waste management in order to (1) make greenhouse gas emissions a factor in waste management decisions and (2) employ waste management as a mitigation action for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. For additional information 

on EPA’s Climate and Waste Program, see 

www.epa.gov/mswclimate. 

Recycled/Recyclable 

Printed with Vegtable Oil-Based Inks 

on Recycled Paper 

(Minimum 50% Postconsumer) 

Process Chlorine Free 

Solid Waste and 

Emergency Response 

(5306W) 

EPA 530-F-02-023 

July 2002 

www.epa.gov