2.2. Industrial plastic wastes
Industrial plastic wastes (so-called primary Waste) are those
arising from the large plastics manufacturing, processing and
packaging industry. The industrial waste plastic mainly constitute
plastics from construction and demolition companies (e.g. polyvinyl
chloride pipes and fittings, tiles and sheets) electrical and
electronics industries (e.g. switch boxes, cable sheaths, cassette
boxes, TV screens, etc.) and the automotive industries spare-parts
for cars, such as fan blades, seat coverings, battery containers and
front grills). Most of the industrial plastic waste have relatively
good physical characteristics i.e. they are sufficiently clean and free
of contamination and are available in fairly large quantities. It has
been exposed to high temperatures during the manufacturing
process which may have decreased its characteristics, but it has not
been used in any product applications.
Municipal plastic wastes are heterogeneous, where as industrial
plastics wastes are homogeneous in nature. For homogeneous
plastic wastes, repelletization and remolding seem to be a simple
and effective means of recycling. But when plastic wastes are
heterogeneous or consist of mixed resins, they are unsuitable for
reclamation. In this case thermal cracking into hydrocarbons may
provide a suitable means of recycling, which is termed chemical
recycling