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Scientists have embarked on a $100,000 research trial at a country scrap dealer to recycle PVC in a way that makes economic sense.
Key points:
- PVC waste is a growing problem in Australia, with 70,000 tonnes ending up in landfill annually
- The thermoplastic can be recycled, but the process is expensive and carbon-intensive
- A Edith Cowan University trial is investigating the use of PVC granules for water filtration in desalination plants
The thermoplastic — or polyvinyl chloride — can be recycled, but it's expensive, and it can create more carbon emissions than virgin plastic.
Bunbury scrap metal dealer Murray Connop and Edith Cowan University (ECU) researchers say they may have found a solution.
They are set to trial whether or not PVC granules can be turned into high-value water filtration membranes at desalination plants.
Need for change
Mr Connop said he became increasingly aware of an environmental need for waste to be saved from landfill during decades in the scrap-metal business.
He said the need to find a local solution became more pressing when China stopped taking bulk waste in 2017.
"We need to do something here in Australia," Mr Connop said.
He has invested $50,000 of his own money, on top of a federal grant, for a $100,000 research trial with ECU.
Mr Connop wanted to find out what to do with leftover PVC after copper had been stripped from computer and electrical cabling.
"We're producing copper granules, which is commercially viable for us," he said.
"The by-product is the plastic granules.
"And that's where we're working at getting a solution."
Mr Connop said the product needed to be more than a feel-good exercise.
"We want to use it in the wastewater filtration area in the first instance," he said.
"We have to produce an economically viable product out of this.
"Otherwise, it's only going to be a short-term, propped-up business model, and that's not what we want."
Need for recycling solutions
Industries have faced considerable challenges in finding viable solutions for recycling plastic, including the collapse of the REDcycle program.
ECU engineering lecturer Amir Razmjou says 70,000 tonnes of PVC end up in landfill in Australia each year.
"PVC is chemically stable and durable, so if it ends up in landfill, it stays for centuries or more," he said.
Dr Razmjou said recycling methods were also energy intensive.
"You don't want to add more emission into the atmosphere by recycling PVC," he said.
Dr Razmjou said the 10-month trial at Connop Metals would look at recycling "recipes".
He said the aim was to recycle PVC in green and low-carbon, energy-intensive ways.
"We are going to use the building blocks of PVC for making new applications and new products in water and wastewater industry," Dr Razmjou said.
The trial should be finished in 12 months.
Mr Connop said he had investigated recycling options because he saw the volume of wasted products.
He said more needed to be done by manufacturers to ensure products could be re-used.
"It is my passion to keep everything out of landfill," he said.
"I'd like to see products having to be fully recyclable before they are made and sold."