Characterization of effluents through a typical plastic recycling process: An evaluation of cleaning performance and environmental pollution

The public and government more and more concern about water resource conservation and solid waste recycling due to the increasing awareness of socioeconomic problems created by the inappropriate use of these natural resources. Recycling activities must, therefore, go hand in hand with an evaluation of the effluents generated and discharged during such operations, in order to avoid a mere exchange of pollutants. In this study, an evaluation of optimum conditions for some cleaning parameters by using characterization results of effluents was accomplished. Although, a complete evaluation of process parameters has not been possible, good correlations between cleaner performance and effluent parameter measurements were achieved. The environmental pollution promoted through cleaning of plastics during the recycling process of polyolefins and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was investigated. A comparative evaluation with government requirements showed that these effluents should be treated at their source before discharge to the domestic sewage. A typical physical-chemical treatment should be enough to comply with the requirements.