Metallised Plastic Film
From Open Source Ecology
Basics
- Plastic Film, that has had a metal coated on it by some form of Vacuum Deposition
- Is highly reflective, lighter/stronger than similar pure foils, and is a good insulator/seal
- Has many uses, but the largest stream is in packaging (Chip/Crisps Bags, Juice Boxes, Box Wine, Boxed Milk from Restraunts, etc)
- Main issue is difficulty in recycling
- Also a good cantigate for Upcycling (see Terracycle )
Recycling Methods
Chemical Removal of Metal, then Standard Plastic Workflow
- This uses washed (shredded?) film, it runs it into a reactor with an acid/solvent to dissolve the metal off the nonreactive film
- Can also be done in a similar method (other step, can they be merged?) to remove ink from labels etc
- A Paper on This (Used Sulphuric Acid )
Pyrolysis
- Not really recycling (at least directly, can be made into new plastics), but it can be put in a Pyrolysis Kiln and the slag should be relitively pure metal
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