Recycling of multi-layer plastic

Hi,

I was wondering what kind of small-scale technology exists for recycling multi-layer plastic packaging often used in food.

Regards,
Ashish

Are you talking about the thin film plastics? If so, it doesn't really exist.

The word recycling suggests that the plastic would be returned to the raw material and then be used to make products as good as the original. In practice most plastics - but especially the thin film ones - are chemically altered in any recycling process so cannot be used indefinitely. They get down-cycled to other products which typically can't be recycled afterwards.

Interestingly, the thin film plastics - if put into recycling waste bins - actually mess up the equipment used in recycling, and make it more expensive for the recycling plants to do what they need to do. And then because they can't recycle it they have to pay to have that waste landfilled, or burned. I have known people in my own family who compulsively shove every scrap of thin film plastics into other containers, so that they can then put them in the recycling bin, under the mistaken belief that it means those plastics will be recycled. I know enough now to explain why they shouldn't do that!

Bottom line - reducing dependence on those plastics is more important than attempting to recycle them, because the recycling process cannot reclaim the raw materials properly.

I never hear of multi-layer plastic so I ask google.

According to Wikipedia, this technology was first used in the 1950s to make toothpaste tubes.

Basf company and Uflex recently developed multilayered food packaging from 100% recyclable materials.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multilayered_packaging

The article does not say how to recycle. So how would one recycle these?  

Ashish, by any chance can you post a picture of what it is you are talking about?

Thanks for the replies.

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2F5.imimg.com%2Fdata5%2FAN%2FXX%2FQD%2FSELLER-77460638%2Flays-500x500.jpg&f=1&nofb=1 is the one

What you folks say about recycling is what I know too. I thought maybe, you all know something which I  was missing.

I reuse things like the mylar chip bags. A heat bag sealer will re-close them, I store dehydrated foods and grains in them.

Michael Cox wrote:Are you talking about the thin film plastics? If so, it doesn't really exist.

The word recycling suggests that the plastic would be returned to the raw material and then be used to make products as good as the original. In practice most plastics - but especially the thin film ones - are chemically altered in any recycling process so cannot be used indefinitely. They get down-cycled to other products which typically can't be recycled afterwards.

raw materials properly.

Not exactly.  I recycle multilayer film plastics commercially.  The biggest problem with the films is that it is light fluffy and does nto feed well into a feed hopper.  If you try to force it, it jams.

However there are many methods, including using a  modified feed mill pelletizer to turn it into pellets, then extruding it.  

I work with these hard to process materials on a daily basis.  For the very simple fact that people will give them to me to make them go away.  In many cases people will PAY me to take it away.  

It was not easy to develop a process, but I am seeing success.

Picture attached is a grow bed made from multi layer plastics with a carbonized rice husk biochar ground down to a flour and mixed in that acts as the UV stabilizer.

I would have a problem with making grow beds out of recycled plastic as a growing medium.

Ashish Mukherjee wrote:Hi,

I was wondering what kind of small-scale technology exists for recycling multi-layer plastic packaging often used in food.

Regards,
Ashish

Interesting topic. Multi layer plastic packaging is difficult to recycle because the materials are bonded together, but small scale solutions like shredding, sorting, and repurposing plastics are being explored. It would be great to see more affordable systems that communities could use to reduce waste.