Post by account_disabled on Mar 4, 2024 1:50:23 GMT -5
Businesses are now allowed to recycle plastics separated from auto shredder residue under a new interpretation of existing EPA rules.
The interpretation allows the recycling of plastic scrap containing less than 50 parts per million of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The Environmental Protection Agency banned the production, sale and distribution of PCB products in the United States in 1979 due to the health and environmental hazards these chemicals can cause. The Environmental Protection Agency still allows PCBs to be used in what it calls "fully enclosed" applications, such as transformers and capacitors.
More than 90 countries agreed to eliminate PBC by signing the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.
However, since the ban, PCBs still dominate the ecosystem through B2B Email List leaks from transformers, landfills, combustion smoke and pyrolysis, according to Frost & Sullivan chemicals, materials and food industry analyst Sandipan Mondal.
Mondal argues that the new interpretation will reduce environmental degradation caused by PCBs and allow more plastic to be recycled. The automotive sector can use recycled shredder residues in coatings, paints, adhesives, plastics and flame retardant additives.
“This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the life of the vehicle and from the combustion and pyrolysis of PCB waste,” says Mondal. “Reusing PCB products in the automotive industry will also reduce the use of crude oil and save more land area previously used for landfills. In addition, there will be renewed interest and commercial activity in the recycling sector, which will actively contribute to the economy's GDP in the form of new investment and higher levels of employment."
In 2011, the Institute for Scrap Metal Recycling contacted the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the separation, recycling, use and distribution of recycled plastics from shredder residues from metal recycling facilities.
According to ISRI, the industry produces between 1 and 2 million tons of plastic residue from car shredders, much of which can be recycled.
ISRI President Robin Wiener told Waste & Recycling News that Europe and Asia are already using technology to separate and recycle these plastics. He says the EPA's actions will allow similar investments in the US.
The interpretation allows the recycling of plastic scrap containing less than 50 parts per million of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The Environmental Protection Agency banned the production, sale and distribution of PCB products in the United States in 1979 due to the health and environmental hazards these chemicals can cause. The Environmental Protection Agency still allows PCBs to be used in what it calls "fully enclosed" applications, such as transformers and capacitors.
More than 90 countries agreed to eliminate PBC by signing the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.
However, since the ban, PCBs still dominate the ecosystem through B2B Email List leaks from transformers, landfills, combustion smoke and pyrolysis, according to Frost & Sullivan chemicals, materials and food industry analyst Sandipan Mondal.
Mondal argues that the new interpretation will reduce environmental degradation caused by PCBs and allow more plastic to be recycled. The automotive sector can use recycled shredder residues in coatings, paints, adhesives, plastics and flame retardant additives.
“This will reduce greenhouse gas emissions over the life of the vehicle and from the combustion and pyrolysis of PCB waste,” says Mondal. “Reusing PCB products in the automotive industry will also reduce the use of crude oil and save more land area previously used for landfills. In addition, there will be renewed interest and commercial activity in the recycling sector, which will actively contribute to the economy's GDP in the form of new investment and higher levels of employment."
In 2011, the Institute for Scrap Metal Recycling contacted the Environmental Protection Agency regarding the separation, recycling, use and distribution of recycled plastics from shredder residues from metal recycling facilities.
According to ISRI, the industry produces between 1 and 2 million tons of plastic residue from car shredders, much of which can be recycled.
ISRI President Robin Wiener told Waste & Recycling News that Europe and Asia are already using technology to separate and recycle these plastics. He says the EPA's actions will allow similar investments in the US.
