Recycling of Plastic

Plastic is produced from fossil oil. Plastic is used for many different products. Some plastic products like, for example, wrapping foil, bags and disposable containers for food and beverage have very short lifetimes and thus constitute a major fraction of most waste. Other plastic products like, for example, gutters, window frames, car parts and transportation boxes have long lifetimes and thus appear as waste only many years after they have been introduced on the market. Plastic is constantly being used for new products because of its attractive material properties: relatively cheap, easy to form, good strength and long durability. Recycling of plastic waste from production is well-established, while recycling of postconsumer plastic waste still is in its infancy. This chapter describes briefly how plastic is produced and how waste plastic is recycled in the industry. Quality requirements and use of recycled products are discussed, as are the resource and environmental issues of plastic recycling.