Post-consumer plastic

>> The many and various uses for discarded Naya, Javex and Fleecy bottles

by PHILIP PREVILLE

"In the world of recycling," says one observer, "the paper and plastics industries are complete opposites. The paper industry is mature and stable, like an old wise man. The plastics industry is like a teenager: hyperactive, unpredictable, hormonal and prone to tantrums. The recycling processes for plastics are still being developed. There are lots of entrepreneurs. Competition is fierce."

Such clamour. All for the privilege of crushing, shredding, and melting down your used margarine tub.

Of all the sorters up at the city's north-end recycling centre, those who work the conveyor belts for plastics are busiest of all. Not all plastics are created equal: employees memorize which household-product containers are made of each type of plastic, and place each in its own bin. If they are mixed together, they can't be re-moulded; they'll separate during the drying process and break apart.

Polypropylene plastics (PP) are used in margarine tubs, sour cream containers, ketchup bottles and other food containers. Food manufacturers love PP plastics because they mould easily and dry fast; unfortunately, they don't recycle very well. Ontario-based Entropex Inc. buys them from the sorting centre, then resells them as filler. Most often, says Entropex's Carl Yates, it's turned into plastic lumber, used for park benches in other cities.

PET plastics (polyethylene terephthalate) are the thin, clear bottles used for pop and water. From the sorting centre, they are sent to a Montreal company called PETCO, which transforms them into clear plastic clamshells for blueberries and raspberries, or into the plastic mouldings used to package cell phones.

HDPE plastics (high-density polyethylene) are the thicker, tougher plastics used for cleaning products like bleach, ammonia and liquid-Tide-like products. Entropex buys this stuff too; they wash it, grind it, dry it, and turn it into soybean-sized pellets. From there, much of it gets re-moulded into more Tide-esque bottles. The problem: Tide bottles must be a specific shade of red, but the recycled plastic is the colour of light beer--brownish and transparent. The solution: Tide will make a bottle with recycled plastic, then coat the inside and outside with a layer of shiny, new, unrecycled red plastic.

LDPE plastics (low-density polyethylene) are found in plastic grocery bags. Once considered wholly un-recyclable, a Montreal-based company called SOL Plastiques has figured out a way to mix them with HDPE plastics and recycle them into--surprise, surprise--recycling bins. The kinks still need to be worked out, but SOL's system is unique and the company believes it will revolutionize the recycling of plastics.

Final factoid: The Quebec government seems to believe in SOL Plastiques as well: the province strongly wooed the company to convince them to set up shop here. SOL Plastiques has also received over $40-million in financing, most of which came from the union-backed Fonds de solidarité and the taxpayer-backed Société générale de financement. Since we all stand to lose money on this company, let's hope they know what they're doing. : Next week: Metals and glass

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