Facilities are now allowed to recycle plastics separated from automobile shredder residue, according to the EPA’s new interpretation of existing regulations.
The interpretation permits recycling plastic scrap containing levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) less than 50 parts per million. The EPA banned the manufacturing, sale and distribution of PCB products in US in 1979 because of the health and environmental hazards that these chemicals can cause. The EPA still permits PCBs in what it calls “totally enclosed” uses, such as transformers and capacitors.
More than 90 countries agree to eliminate PBCs by signing the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001.
Since the ban, however, PCBs are still prevalent in the ecosystem in the form of leaks from transformers, landfills, smoke from incineration and pyrolysis, according to Frost & Sullivan chemicals, materials and food industry analyst Sandeepan Mondal.
Mondal says the new interpretation will reduce the environmental degredation caused by PCBs and allow more plastics to be recycled. The auto sector can use recycled shredder residue products in coatings, paints, adhesives, plastics and flame retardant additives.
Source: Environmental Leader