4. Recycling plastic mixtures

4.1 The problem of plastic mixtures

Plastic mixtures are the most important source of waste, and most of the time, they are mixed together at the point of production. Some manufacturers recycle these mixtures to produce products which generally have little added value, but which nevertheless meet the specifications of the applications for which they are intended.

In addition to the problem of the presence of organic contaminants (grease, food residues, etc.) or non-organic contaminants (earth, sand, etc.), which are incompatible with polymers and will adversely affect their final properties, the presence of several polymers of different chemical natures is a handicap. Most polymers are totally immiscible with each other in the molten state, leading to multi-phase...