While we learned how to check the sustainability of our lab items last week, we now turn our attention to plastics.
All of us see the huge amounts of waste we produce every day. However, some companies are trying to make a difference.
They take their items back — and this is how it works:
Today's Lesson: Exploring Take-back programs
What they are and how to make them work
Number Of The Day
While countries like the US rely heavily on landfilling, 18 out of 27 EU member states have implemented a landfill ban. This means plastics in those countries are either recycled or incinerated (with or without energy recovery). However, plastics cannot be recycled indefinitely. As a rule of thumb, most plastics can only be mechanically recycled a few times—typically 3 to 7 cycles for polypropylene—before their quality degrades too much for further use.
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Discussing Take-back Programs
Take-back programs are a great way to avoid plastic waste being incinerated or landfilled.
Nowadays, there are several take-back programs for different items. You can find a list of those here.
If you haven’t heard of them, they are services organized by companies that take their waste back to ensure proper recycling.
Plastic items are often not recycled due to the following reasons:
Recycling facilities only recycle a fraction of plastic types
Items do not fit the required properties (e.g., too small in size)
Items are incorrectly discarded (by habit discarded without separation)
How Do Take-Back Programs Work?
In essence, they are straightforward.
The supplier defines a specific set of items they are willing to take back.
They are often very precise about what is accepted. The reason: waste streams need to be well-defined—e.g., contain only one type of plastic—to ensure efficient recycling.
This is the take-back guide from Corning. Interestingly, they allow for several plastics to be mixed. Meaning they have an additional separation step before their recycling.
Quick note: At this point in time, manufacturers should have no problem recycling items from other vendors. However, one could argue that differences in additives, or the number of previous recycling cycles, might theoretically interfere with the recycling process.
Nevertheless, take-back is now available for a wide range of items, such as:
Notably, Agilent offers a “Trade-in and Buyback” program in which they handle end-to-end packaging and logistics at no charge, according to their website. Click to enlarge the picture or better, visit their website : )
Typically, the manufacturer sells specific cardboard boxes that are used to collect and send back these items. For take-back, 3 options currently exist that depend on the service provider:
On-demand (e.g., labs fill out a form and “order” the pick-up)
Regularly (e.g., monthly)
Drop-off at delivery stations (e.g., FedEx)
The manufacturer then organizes transport and recycling.
Still, these services are not for free. Costs are usually tied to the purchase of these take-back boxes and, depending on the manufacturer, can be quite “noticeable.”
How the Recycling Happens
Nobody really knows…
This is where we basically enter a black box. After sending the box back, we’re left guessing because no single vendor has published a Life Cycle Assessment or process plan.
This little snapshot is taken from a video by TerraCycle in which they pretty nicely visualize the recycling/downcycling process.
Most likely, the boxes are sent to recycling companies contracted by the manufacturers or vendors.
There, the plastic is probably ground, washed, sorted, and pelletized (i.e., mechanically recycled), with the pellets being either sold or molded directly into new products.
Take-Backs Do Not Always Recycle
To be precise, in most cases, we are talking about downcycling. While recycling technically means producing the same product again, most take-back programs result in lower-quality products used in construction or materials with less stringent requirements.
The little dotted line indicates that one cannot recycle plastics forever. This is because polymer chains degrade over time, reducing properties like strength, flexibility, and transparency. At some point, the resulting products become too brittle, less transparent, and potentially slightly yellow. Also, additives (e.g., for durability or UV resistance) also degrade, and unless cycles are standardized, their concentrations become unpredictable.
However, there are companies—like Starlab or Polycarbin—that apparently run closed-loop systems, e.g., producing new tip boxes from tip box waste.
Still, plastics cannot be recycled forever through mechanical recycling—typically, a mix of old and new plastic is used. So how these companies manage it remains unclear, especially since no disclosure or life cycle analysis is available.
Applying The Knowledge
You are not sure whether or not to establish a take-back program?
Next week we will discuss whether they are sustainable for your institution because it might not be in all cases.
However, if you found it to be a good solution, you simply fill out a form on the vendor’s website. They will then typically send you their waste collection box.
Here is a compilation of all take programs I know of for you
I took the pic on the right from a Fraunhofer post and edited it a little bit.
The two most common challenges are finding space for the boxes and deciding how often take-back needs to be organized.
And when setting your take-back up, make sure to:
Encourage them to ask questions
Have clear, visible graphics posted
Organize a few control checks early on to ensure everyone understands the system
Upcoming Lesson:
Investigating The Dark Side Of Take-Back Programs...
How We Feel Today
References
Schyns, Z. O. G. et al., Mechanical recycling of packaging plastics: A review. 2020. Macromolecular Rapid Communications, First published: 30 September 2020. doi:10.1002/marc.202000415
Eriksen, M. K. et al., Closing the loop for PET, PE and PP waste from households: Influence of material properties and product design for plastic recycling. 2019. Waste Management, 96, 75–85. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2019.07.005
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