14 Feb
2017

Impact of bio- and oxodegradable plastic bags on recycling

Impact of bio- and oxodegradable plastic bags on recycling

European Plastic Converters Association (EuPC) has commissioned an independent research institute TCKT - Transfercenter für Kunststofftechnik GmbH in Austria to investigate the impact of plastic bags containing bio- and oxodegradable additives. Studies have shown that extruison of film by blow molding method with raw material containing more than 5% of material with these additives have encountered difficulties (unstable sleeve and unstable flow during the process of extrusion). Fluctuation parameters during the recycling process and during extrusion can also be caused by heterogeneous batch. The visual effect and the mechanical properties were impaired starting from 2%. As a result, it is concluded that no less than 2% of oxo- or biodegradable materials in recycling process lowers the quality of the recycled material used in the production of the new PE film. Below we present a full report of research.