IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/recore/v44y2005i1p91-98.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The use of electrostatic techniques for the identification and sorting of waste packaging materials

Author

Listed:
  • Hearn, G.L.
  • Ballard, J.R.

Abstract

Techniques have been developed which enable items of domestic waste packaging to be identified and sorted into material groups prior to recycling. Plastic packaging items can be separated from items of similar size and shape constructed from cardboard, wood or paper. This is achieved by applying a controlled level of electrostatic charge and comparing the rate of charge relaxation using a non-contacting electric field meter. Plastic packaging items such as bottles, food tubs and trays are subsequently streamed into their polymer groups using a series of tribo-electric probes. The probes are brought into contact with the packaging materials to be identified and comprise a rotating head or drum, which generates an electrostatic charge due to the friction between the head and the item to be identified. Since the magnitude and polarity of the generated charge depends on the polymers comprising both the head material and the packaging material, a degree of identification can be obtained.

Suggested Citation

  • Hearn, G.L. & Ballard, J.R., 2005. "The use of electrostatic techniques for the identification and sorting of waste packaging materials," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 91-98.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:44:y:2005:i:1:p:91-98
    DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2004.08.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921344904001545
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.resconrec.2004.08.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bezati, Feliks & Froelich, Daniel & Massardier, Valérie & Maris, Elisabeth, 2011. "Addition of X-ray fluorescent tracers into polymers, new technology for automatic sorting of plastics: Proposal for selecting some relevant tracers," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(12), pages 1214-1221.
    2. Malcolm Richard, Gent & Mario, Menendez & Javier, Toraño & Susana, Torno, 2011. "Optimization of the recovery of plastics for recycling by density media separation cyclones," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 472-482.
    3. Reddy, Mallampati Srinivasa & Kurose, Keisuke & Okuda, Tetsuji & Nishijima, Wataru & Okada, Mitsumasa, 2008. "Selective recovery of PVC-free polymers from ASR polymers by ozonation and froth flotation," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 52(6), pages 941-946.
    4. Ichiro Tsuchimoto & Yuya Kajikawa, 2022. "Recycling of Plastic Waste: A Systematic Review Using Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-39, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:recore:v:44:y:2005:i:1:p:91-98. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kai Meng (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/resources-conservation-and-recycling .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.