According to the 8/28/00 Plastics News ("Swiss lifting PVC bottle ban"), the "Swiss
government plans to lift a 10 year ban on the use of PVC beverage bottles in the
country...because a ban no longer can be justified in the face of technological advances,"
said Switzerland's EPA which pointed to autosort systems that were subsequently developed.
Apparently, the significant cost and inefficiencies of these systems in field
conditions that continue to undermine the economics of PET recycling -- notwithstanding
the existence of a "technical" solution -- were not considered. That is to say, the
vendors have developed excellent optical recognition systems, but the fact that the bottle
stream, after baling and shipping which is inherent in the use of intermediate processing,
is highly degraded when it arrives at the reclaimer is the nub of the problem.
Peter
____________________________________
Peter Anderson
RecycleWorlds Consulting
4513 Vernon Blvd. Ste. 15
Madison, WI 53705-4964
Phone:(608) 231-1100/Fax: (608) 233-0011
E-mail:recycle@msn.fullfeed.com
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