Nonmetallics

ANOTHER VINYL SIDING RECOVERY SITE OPENED

Polymer Reclaim & Exchange, Mebane, N.C., has opened a second recovery site in Atlanta to reclaim vinyl siding scrap. This marks the first major expansion for PRE in a program that is currently collecting more than 140,000 pounds of vinyl per month in a 250-mile radius around Mebane.

"The program is growing," says Kevin Reily, sales manager and PRE vinyl program director. "We’ve just added a second shift to handle the increased flow of material, and a third shift and a second production line are planned for next year."

The vinyl is reprocessed into granulate which is then sold and remanufactured into a number of useful products within the gutter and pipe industries. PRE says that it has already diverted more than 800,000 pounds of vinyl from landfills.

COMPANY MAKES RECYCLED COMPOSITE PART FOR AUTOS

The Plastics Division of Eagle-Picher Automotive, Grabill, Ill., says it is the first automotive supplier to produce an exterior part consisting of recycled sheet molded composites. The part is a spoiler for the Dodge Neon and it is comprised of 15 percent recycled sheet molded composites which reduces the spoiler’s weight by a half a pound. The company has been supplying products containing recycled sheet molded composites to both Ford and Chrysler for the past two years, but all the parts were for interior use.

NEW RUBBER AND PLASTICS TECHNOLOGY

Northwestern University’s industrial research laboratory in Evanston, Ill., has announced the opening of its new Polymer Reclamation Center which uses a new approach to recycling rubber and plastics. The technology is known as "solid-state shear extrusion pulverization" and the university is seeking to further this concept to facilitate the transfer of the technology to industry.

The university is offering laboratory trials to interested parties on their own materials in order to show the benefits of this new method. The recycling technique uses a twin-screw extruder to pulverize unsorted, post-consumer, multi-color plastics in a single step, making the process more cost effective, say officials.

The technology also permits inclusion in the feedstock of label and cap material. The feedstock is also pressurized and cooled in the process causing chemical changes that do not occur through normal grinding.

Interested parties should contact Dr. Klementina Khait of Northwestern at (708) 491-7649.

COMPANY IS NOW RECYCLING ANTIFREEZE

ProCycle Oil and Metals, an oil and oil filter recycling firm based in Springtown, Texas, has announced that it is now recycling used engine antifreeze through a process that returns the ethylene glycol to a marketable commodity. The company says its program will recycle several million gallons of used antifreeze a year. It is estimated that about 75 percent of all used antifreeze in Texas is being poured down the drain, a violation of federal EPA regulations.

Antifreeze, itself, is not a hazardous substance, but used antifreeze contains metal contaminates from engines. Also, most brands are dangerous to animals because they are attracted to the fluid’s sweet taste.

The used antifreeze collected by ProCycle will be treated, filtered and deionized to produce a fluid comparable in quality to virgin antifreeze. Recycled antifreeze has been approved for use by most of the new car manufacturers.

RECYCLED TIRES TO BE USED IN ROAD

Four Indiana county highway departments will receive grants to test crumb-rubber-modified asphalt on county roads during this year. The program is funded by a 25-cent fee on each new tire purchased in the state. Crumb rubber asphalt will be used at sites throughout the state to test its effectiveness in varied Indiana weather and traffic conditions. An independent review team will monitor the sites during the next five years.

Already, crumb rubber asphalt has proven to be effective and superior to conventional asphalt in other test projects across the country.

OFFICE WASTE PAPER SUPPLY TIGHT

Andover International Associates, Danvers, Mass., has released a report, "Supply, Demand and Future Prices of Office Waste Paper, 1995-1999." The firm says that present and future users of OWP have watched the price skyrocket in the past few months and may be asking themselves, "How high is up?" and "Will there be enough supply?"

In general, AIA predicts tight supply of OWP for at least the next two years and a significant drop in the average price of OWP by the end of the decade. The study says that "the traditional voluntary office paper collection programs, which employ deskside recycling containers and accept only a highly selective fraction of the discarded paper, is falling far short of current requirements and obviously will be totally inadequate for the increased requirements of 1996/1997."

For more information, and to receive the full report, call Fred Iannazzi at (508) 777-6888.