Material Recycling of Waste Plastics for Home Appliances

The effects of the plastics recycling process consisting of mixing, washing and pelletizing on the mechanical properties and the coefficients of variation of the recycled polypropylene (PP) were evaluated. The tensile, bending and impact properties of the PP recycled from the waste refrigerator vegetable cases and washing machine water tubs were measured. There were no differences in the static modulus and strength in any recycling processes. On the other hand, the recycled PP treated in all processes including the pelletizing and washing process exhibited the highest toughness such as ultimate elongation and impact strength. These results showed that the toughness of the recycled PP increased with decreasing amount of contamination. The mechanical properties of the recycled PP and their variation were equivalent to those of virgin PP.