Can some plastics from durable goods be recycled?
Yes. A primary challenge is collecting post-consumer plastics from durable goods in quantities of sufficient quality that make recycling cost-effective. The Vehicle Recycling Partnership (VRP), a consortium formed by General Motors Company, Ford Motor Corporation, and DaimlerChrysler Corporation, opened a joint research center called the Vehicle Recycling Development Center (VRDC) in conjunction with Argonne National Laboratory to develop automotive recycling technology. In 2006 the VRP was in its third year of its third Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Argonne Labs. The VRP has a collaborative agreement to develop technology to recover and recycle plastics from scrapped vehicles bumpers, instrument panels, seats and interior trim. Today, more than 95 percent of all vehicles in the United States go through a market-driven recycling infrastructure, with no added cost or tax to consumers. More than 75 percent, by weight, of each end-of-life vehicle (ELV) is rec
Yes. A primary challenge is collecting post-consumer plastics from durable goods in quantities of sufficient quality that make recycycing cost-effective. The Vehicle Recycling Partnership (VRP), a consortium formed by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, has opened a joint research center called the Vehicle Recycling Development Center (VRDC) to develop automotive recycling technology. The VRP has a collaborative agreement with APC to develop technology to recover and recycle plastics from scrapped vehicles’ bumpers, instrument panels, seats and interior trim. At wTe Corporation, a research and development facility in Dorchester, Mass., APC conducted research to improve recovery of plastics from durable products. The facility was designed to take plastic items with foreign material contamination, such as metals or fabric coverings, and generate a clean plastic stream. MBA Polymers, Richmond, CA, includes an “advanced plastics recycling line” that is developing and demonstrating new techn
