Promoting Sustainability through the Recycling and Reutilization of Polyethylene Packaging

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Petrochemical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Pharos, Alexandria, Egypt.

2 Technical support manager - Ministry of trade and Industry.

10.1088/1742-6596/2830/1/012011

Abstract

The outstanding performance and low carbon footprint of polymeric materials conflict with the sharp growth in plastic trash, which is why the current global plastics economy is largely linear. Reducing environmental problems requires a shift to a circular economy that keeps plastic in its most valuable state and encourages reduction, reuse, and recycling. The existing mechanical recycling procedures are constrained by cost, deterioration of mechanical qualities, and uneven product quality, but mechanical recycling is a crucial instrument in an environmentally and economically sustainable economy of plastics. Through the lens of a circular economy, it's important to properly sort and recycle (PE) packaging to ensure its maximum potential for reuse. In this paper it discusses the optimum ratio between the recycled and raw (LDPE) pellets in order to create a plastic packaging with the same mechanical, physical and chemical properties with less cost in comparison to the ordinary one. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) were used to characterize both raw and recycled (LDPE) pellets. The environmentally friendly LDPE nano-particles in polymer packaging will be tested in the second experimental section, and the results will be compared with those of regular polymer packaging.

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