MATERIALS | PVC RECYCLING


under the programme continues to be reprocessed and used here, or in New Zealand.” The Vinyl Council wants other industries and manufacturers to support the programme and for measures to strengthen the local recycling industry.


Banner recovery Meanwhile, researchers at the University of New South Wales have devised a new method to recycle PVC banners, which does not require the PVC coating to be separated from the polyester fabric. Testing by the UNSW team showed that recov-


Above: Dennis Collins has developed a chemical technique to recycle PVC


Collins has not revealed the exact details of how


the process works, but his project has been supported by an innovation programme in Australia, called Innovyz. He aims to build a recycling plant in Ballarat,


South Australia in the near future, if he can con- vince local and state governments to support him, he told the local Courier newspaper.


Medical re-use As well as organising PVC Aus 2018, The Vinyl Council of Australia also oversees a programme called PVC Recycling in Hospitals, in partnership with Baxter Healthcare, Aces Medical Waste and Welvic Australia. The scheme collects PVC waste from around


130 Australian hospitals – from products such as IV bags and medical tubing. The waste is then sent to local recycling companies and reprocessed in Australia, before being sold to Australian and New Zealand manufacturers of PVC products such as garden hoses. In the last year, the scheme has diverted around 200 tonnes of PVC hospital waste from landfill to recycling. Its eventual aim is to reach a recycling rate of 2,500 tonnes/year. The scheme has been running since 2009, and has been replicated elsewhere – such as in the RecoMed scheme in the UK, which collects PVC waste from a network of UK hospitals and turns them into horticultural products. To support the growth of the programme,


Welvic recently invested in new recycling equip- ment, and created six new jobs at its PVC com- pounding plant in Victoria. Baxter Healthcare, a local manufacturer of hospital IV fluids bags, has also invested in education and training in the healthcare sector and provides logistics support. “The programme is not affected by China’s ban


on unsorted materials,” said Sophi MacMillan, CEO of the Vinyl Council. “All medical waste collected


26 PIPE & PROFILE EXTRUSION | May 2018


ered material could be used to make strong, durable composite panels for indoor and outdoor applications. Sagar Cholake, research associate at the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology, is the corresponding author of a new paper that details the technique, in a paper published in the journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling. The researchers say that Australian industry landfills around 500 tonnes of such banners every year as their complex, mixed-material nature makes them difficult to recycle. In their method, they mixed shredded banners with recycled PVC cable material – which improved the mix density and makes the material suitable for recycling. The technique could be used for similar products such as grain covers and other tarpaulins. Before processing, shredded samples were analysed using various techniques, including XRF, TGA and FTIR. The shredded material is then transferred to a mixer and mixed using a high- speed rotary mill, then compounded at around 180°C and extruded into granules that can then be further processed. At this temperature, no gases are generated,


said the researchers. In-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques


revealed that neither waste raw material showed any structural changes after recycling five times and ICP-MS analysis of showed that there was no evidence of toxic elements in the distilled water tested even after immersion of banner and cable material for 28 days. Life cycle analysis, conducted as part of the


research, showed that replacing virgin PVC by recycled PVC from banner emitted 78% less greenhouse gas emissions (kg CO2 equivalent).


CLICK ON THE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION: � www.vinyl.org.au � www.paperfreightrecycling.com.au � www.recyclinginhospitals.com.au � www.unsw.edu.au


www.pipeandprofile.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58