Charaterization of multilayers in incoming waste flows

Plastic film packaging are widely used and put on the market every day due to their high barrier property and their low weight, making them of choice in such application. Since recycling is more and more encouraged by national and European regulation, the analysis of the composition of plastic waste stream is of major importance. Indeed, recycling methods and efficiency are dependent on the plastic and therefore the composition needs to be known. Unfortunately, due to their inherent complexity such films are very difficult to analyze completely.
This report presents the characterization of two types of multilayer plastic film waste: the ones coming from agricultural usage and the ones from household packaging waste. Since agricultural multilayer films are very limited and controlled in the market, only the second category represents a true challenge.
In order to find the best way to characterize them, 4 different methodologies are presented: the overall composition in bulk with DSC analysis conducted by VTT, the flakes batch analysis with the FlakeAnalyser from RTT, the InfraRed and SEM analysis at IPC, Aimplas and TNO, and finally a NIR analysis at Pellenc ST. The advantages and limitations of all these technics will be compared.
Before the analysis, the samples were prepared with a special care for the representativeness, from flakes to homogenization through extrusion.
The goal of this analysis is double: determine model mixtures in CIMPA project to start recycling experiments, and help value-chain stakeholders with a comparison of different composition analysis.