Closed loop recycling of plastic housing for flat screen TVs

Abstract

The treatment of the rapidly increasing number of End-of-Life (EoL) Flat screen Televisions (FTVs) presents major challenges and opportunities. Closing loops in plastic housing material flows remains a particular technical challenge because of the presence of additives, such as Flame Retardants (FR) in recovered housings. In the framework of a collaborative project PRIME with TP Vision the TV development site for Philips TVs and a Van Gansewinkel first level recycling plant, series of experiments are set up to recycle plastic housings of FTVs. In these series of experiments plastic back covers are manually disassembled from the current WEEE stream and sorted based on manufacturers information and polymer analysis. With these plastics, new back covers and testing bars are injection molded and evaluated. The results of these experiments and the presented cost-benefit analysis demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of closed loop recycling of housing plastics and indicate further opportunities for design and process improvements. © 2012 Fraunhofer IZM.