Recycling of Polymer Nanocomposites. Plastic e-waste Case Study

Abstract

Within the framework of the circular economy, plastic from Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) has gained great interest during the last few years, mainly because of the exponential and continuous increase and also because of the recycling potential of this particular waste stream. Plastics from WEEE are nanocomposites as they contain different additives to achieve certain properties for specific applications, such as talc, titanium dioxide, calcium carbonate, and brominated substances. This fact indicates that they have different performances from the virgin ones (plastics without additives), as the last ones act as a nanocomposite matrix. However, several studies regarding the performance of WEEE plastics are based on the analysis of virgin materials and then extrapolated to recycled ones. Considering that acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) and high impact polystyrene (HIPS) are the major plastics in WEEE, this chapter includes a comparative structural, morphological, and mechanical analysis between these virgins and WEEE plastics (nanocomposites), as well as recycling strategy study for the last ones. Thus, it was demonstrated that virgin resin performance cannot be directly extrapolated to WEEE plastics, as expected. Moreover, from the recycling strategy analysis, it can be claimed that recycling by reprocessing of mixed WEEE plastics with an adequate compatibilization methodology is the most sustainable and economically viable alternative, contributing to sustainable development and the circular economy.