Polymer Separation
Medical Molding Scrap is a Good Source of HIPS
Problem / Opportunity: A medical molder had been recycling 1.2 million pounds per year of scrap plastics. Whole parts, purge, floor sweepings and regrind were put on the truck. Landfill avoidance was the minimum requirement although a greater value proposition existed. The product line was primarily made from a HIPS resin yet was also mixed…
Silo Contamination: Polymers Get Recovered
Problem / Opportunity: 50,000 lbs. of natural ABS virgin pellets had been contaminated with PVC pellets (square) anda trace amount of yellow concentrate and black resin – a result of silo cross-contamination.The material required immediate removal from the silo in order for the customer to get areplacement load of ABS pellets and maintain production. Impact…
Contaminated Resins: ABS & PP Raw Material Bargains
Problem / Opportunity: A silo with natural ABS prime resin had been cross-contaminated and time was of the essence. The source needed to get the material removed from their silo immediately (via bulk truck) so that replacement material could be received. One of our customers (a distributor) had an opportunity to bid on the commingled…
Contamination Not Seen Commingled PC, GPPS & PVC
Problem / Opportunity: A compounder acquired what they believed to be clean, clear PC regrind contaminated with off-colored pieces. Thinking they could use the material as received, they blended the material so it could be used in production. Unfortunately, after the company blended the material they found the material was contaminated with other resins (clear…
Color Separation Sometimes It Doesn’t Work
Problem / Opportunity: A company called us in search of someone who had a color sorter thinking that a color sort was the answer to a problem they were having. A bulk truck receiving error had resulted in 110,000 pounds of PP being erroneously blown into the PVC silo – resulting in a major cross-contamination…
Coextruded PET Preforms Nylon Barrier Liberated – Both Plastics Recovered
Problem / Opportunity: We were approached to find a way to separate Nylon from PET to recover PET. Bottle preforms can be coextruded with a Nylon barrier (above) sandwiched between two layers of PET. Our customer (another recycler/scrap buyer) was forced to take these along with more salable scrap PET resin when they won the…
EVA Lined Closures: Commingled Polymer Contaminant
Problem / Opportunity: A closure manufacturer was not able to reuse scrap closures because of the EVA lining that is adhered to the interior of the cap. In an effort to reuse some of the material, the manufacturer had a company grind and repelletize the EVA lined closures but found the residual EVA caused failure…
Coextruded Window Profiles: Coextruded Parts
Problem / Opportunity: A custom profile extrusion manufacturer generated scrap coextruded profiles on a monthly basis. The two polymers, rigid PVC (white) and flexible PVC (black), are not compatible in the melt stream. Prior to using Butler MacDonald, the company had other recycler’s sort the two materials but suffered a 25% yield loss. Impact on…
Silo Contamination Ground Spill: (Natural Mixed With White PET)
Problem / Opportunity: A bottle manufacturer accidentally dumped virgin white PET pellets & regrind on top of natural virgin PET pellets & regrind. To further complicate matters, when they drained the silo a portion of the material spilled on the railroad tracks. Color sorting the white PET from the clear PET would make it very…
Mixed Plastic Separation Blending Mishaps Do Not Equal Loss In Value
Problem / Opportunity: A company that sells PCABS needed a solution to fix 120,000 lbs. of material that was blended with ABS. Facing a significant loss in material value, the company was looking for options other than trashing the material or selling “as is” for export. Based upon these options, the customer would incur a…