Determining the amount of waste plastics in the feed of Austrian waste-to-energy facilities.

ABSTRACT: Although thermal recovery of waste plastics is widely practiced in many European countries, reliable information on the amount of waste plastics in the feed of waste-to-energy plants is rare. In most cases the amount of plastics present in commingled waste, such as municipal solid waste, commercial, or industrial waste, is estimated based on a few waste sorting campaigns, which are of limited significance with regard to the characterisation of plastic flows. In the present study, an alternative approach, the so-called Balance Method, is used to determine the total amount of plastics thermally recovered in Austria's waste incineration facilities in 2014. The results indicate that the plastics content in the waste feed may vary considerably among different plants but also over time. Monthly

SUBMITTER: Schwarzbock T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5367575 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature