AUTOMOTIVE | INNOVATION
A major US project has demonstrated the economic and technical viability of recycling polyolefins from bumpers in the country’s end-of-life vehicles sector
ELV bumpers can find a second life in the US
The End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV) Recycling Demonstra- tion Project has shown there is a feasible market for recycled plastic bumpers in the US and that there is the technology to support this, according to the Plastics Industry Association. Following comple- tion of Phases II and III of the ELV Project, the association released a report in May. The project, which was launched in 2015, was designed to study the viability of collecting and recycling plastic car parts, including car bumpers, and that recovered thermoplastic polyolefins (TPO) could be used in materials to make new products. Patty Long, Interim President and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, said: “Finding innovative ways to recycle and reuse plastics has a direct impact on the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills. By developing lasting, sustainable end markets for these materials, even those extracted from scrap cars and trucks, [the association] is giving scrap materials a new life through recycling.” The ELV Project involved using four different
sources of plastic bales which were processed by three plastics recyclers across the US. The economic and technical feasibility was the focus of Phase 1, in which the bales were evaluated and converted by
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
Geo-Tech Polymers into two forms: reprocessed and pelletised with paint removed and simply shredded with the paint remaining. From the initial work, the Plastics Industry Association was able to create a directory of automotive recyclers who specialise in using ELV materials. (See more on Phase 1 of the ELV Project in Plastics Recycling World July-August 2018 edition.) “The recycler participating in Phase I [Geo-Tech
Polymers] was able to create very high-quality TPO pellets at a cost that is less than prime TPO,” said the Plastics Industry Association in its report
Participants in ELV project
ACI Plastics, Asahi Kasei, Automotive Recyclers Association (ARA), Boston Auto Wreckers, Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA), Erema North America, Fenix Parts, Gary’s U-Pull It, Geo-Tech Polymers, Innovative Injection Technologies (i2Tech), Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), John Deere, Kal Trading, Manar Inc., Metro Recycling, Midland Compounding & Consulting, Milliken, Noble Polymers, Padnos, Post Plastics, Ravago Recycling Group, Series One, Standard Auto Wreckers, Toyota, TPEI, and Ultra-Poly Corporation.
July/August 2019 | PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD 31
Main image: Waste car bumpers are a potentially large source of recycled polyolefins
PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK
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