| Acknowledgements | 7 |
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| Foreword | 9 |
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| Contents | 11 |
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| Acronyms and Other Abbreviations | 15 |
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| 1 All About the Waste | 17 |
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| 1.1 Municipal Solid Waste— A Daily Companion | 17 |
| 1.2 Management Methods for Municipal Solid Waste | 19 |
| 1.2.1 Landfilling | 20 |
| 1.2.2 Incineration with Energy Recovery (Waste-to-Energy) | 21 |
| 1.2.3 Recycling | 23 |
| 2 Plastics—Increasing Value, Decreasing Lifetime | 25 |
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| 3 Plastics Recycling—Conservation of Valuable Resources | 29 |
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| 3.1 Plastics Recycling Methods | 30 |
| 3.1.1 Mechanical Recycling | 30 |
| 3.1.2 Chemical Recycling | 31 |
| 3.2 Recycling Different Types of Plastic Waste | 31 |
| 3.2.1 Preconsumer Waste | 31 |
| 3.2.1.1 Manufacturing Scrap | 31 |
| 3.2.1.2 Dilution Effect | 31 |
| 3.2.2 Postconsumer Waste | 33 |
| 3.2.2.1 Packaging Plastic Waste | 35 |
| 3.2.2.2 Building and Construction Plastic Waste | 36 |
| 3.2.2.3 Automotive Plastic Waste | 37 |
| 3.2.2.4 Agricultural Plastic Waste | 37 |
| 3.2.2.5 Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) | 38 |
| 3.3 Sorting Processes for Plastic Waste | 39 |
| 3.3.1 Manual Sorting | 39 |
| 3.3.2 Automated Sorting | 39 |
| 3.3.2.1 Float-and-Sink Sorting | 39 |
| 3.3.2.2 Froth-Flotation Sorting | 40 |
| 3.3.2.3 Near-Infrared Sorting | 40 |
| 3.3.2.4 X-Ray Fluorescence | 40 |
| 3.3.2.5 Laser-Aided Identification | 40 |
| 3.3.2.6 Marker Systems | 40 |
| 3.4 Plastic Degradation Mechanisms | 41 |
| 3.4.1 Mechanical Degradation | 42 |
| 3.4.2 Thermal Degradation | 42 |
| 3.4.3 Thermal Oxidative Degradation | 43 |
| 3.4.4 Effect of Degradation on Processing and Service-Life Properties | 43 |
| 3.5 Contaminants | 51 |
| 3.6 Conclusion: Technical Feasibility of Plastics Recycling | 51 |
| 4 Economic Analysis of Plastic Waste Handling | 55 |
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| 4.1 Fundamentals of Economic Analysis | 55 |
| 4.1.1 Economic Efficiency Calculation | 55 |
| 4.1.2 Static Economic Efficiency Calculation | 56 |
| 4.1.3 Profit Comparison Method | 56 |
| 4.2 Economic Analysis of Landfilling | 57 |
| 4.3 Economic Analysis of Incineration with Energy Recovery (Waste-to-Energy Facilities) | 62 |
| 4.4 Economic Analysis of Plastics Recycling | 66 |
| 4.4.1 Materials Recovery Facility Costs | 67 |
| 4.4.2 Plastic Reprocessing Costs | 71 |
| 4.4.3 Revenues from Selling Recycled Plastic | 74 |
| 4.4.4 Profitability | 75 |
| 4.4.5 Oil Price as a Factor in Profitability of Plastics Recycling | 75 |
| 4.5 Conclusion | 78 |
| 5 Environmental Analysis of Plastic Waste Handling | 83 |
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| 5.1 Environmental Analysis of Landfilling | 83 |
| 5.2 Environmental Analysis of Incineration with Energy Recovery (Waste-to-Energy Facilities) | 85 |
| 5.3 Environmental Analysis of Recycling | 86 |
| 5.4 Conclusion | 88 |
| 6 Optimization of Plastics Recycling | 91 |
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| 6.1 Optimization I: Reduction of Sorting Processes | 91 |
| 6.2 Optimization II: Upcycling of Plastic Waste by Blending | 94 |
| 6.2.1 Additional Costs of LDPE–PP Recycling | 97 |
| 6.2.2 Additional Revenues of LDPE–PP Recycling | 99 |
| 6.2.3 Total Profit of Optimization II | 99 |
| 6.3 Optimization III: Increasing the Recycling Rate | 101 |
| 7 Plastic Waste of the World: Increasing Potential of Recycling | 103 |
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| 7.1 Plastic Waste Handling in Europe | 106 |
| 7.2 Plastic Waste Handling in China | 111 |
| 7.3 Plastic Waste in the Future | 116 |
| 8 Appendix | 119 |
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| 8.1 Economic Analysis of Landfilling | 120 |
| 8.2 Economic Analysis of WTE | 123 |
| 8.3 Economic Analysis of Recycling | 125 |
| 8.4 Optimization I: Reduction of Sorting Processes | 128 |
| 8.5 Optimization II: Upcycling of Plastic Waste by Blending | 129 |
| Index | 131 |
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