CONTENTS
Section 1: INTRODUCTION
Recycling and Recovery Strategies
A Richard Horrocks
Municipal Waste
Jim Cunliffe
Section 2: WASTE MINIMISATION
Turning Environmental Concern into Real Profit
Clive Jeanes
Reclaimed Fibres, the Source and Usage
Andrew Simpson
Industrial Waste Water Minimisation and Treatment
Allan K Delves
The Fibre Industry and Waste Management
Nello Pasquini
Recycling of Plastic Fibres and Packaging Waste
J A(Tony) Horrocks
Key Lessons for Plastic Bottle Recycling
Andrew Wood
Section 3: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Nonwovens from Recycled Waste
AlfndWmu
Recycling Zeftron Carpets
Ian Wolstenholme Cotton Waste Reclamation
Ferdinand Leifeld
Recycling in the Far East
Nasim A Minhas
The Production of High Tenacity Tapes from Waste Polypropylene
Subhas Ghosh & A Richard Horrocks
The Role of Process Stabilisers in Recycling Polyolefins
H(Heinz) Herbst, K Hoffman, R Pfaendner and F Sitek
Recycling Carbon Fibre-PEEK Composites
A(Alan) K Wood, R J Day and S F Pang
Section 4: ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS
The Eco Movement
Brian McCarthy
Waste – The Politics and Philosophies
Barry G Hazel
Dyestuffs: The Myths Explored and Problems Aired
Brian Burdett
Environmental Husbandry
Simon Kent
PREFACE
The current interest in the environment is a consequence of a number of individual factors which have not only become more understood and quantifiable but have been recognised as having synergistic effects upon the biosphere and its ability to sustain life. Of particular relevance are the relationships between the depletion of ozone in the upper atmosphere and the increased use of chlorine and fluorine-containing compounds (CFCs), the increased release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and its affect on climate, the rapidly increasing world population and its consequences on other species and their ability to survive and, of course, the impact of modem technology which is able to consume greater resources, to produce large quantities of waste and generate consumer products which may have very short useful lifetimes and be difficult to recover and recycle from waste streams. Each of these interactions has major consequences for the textile and related industries including the plastic producing sectors whether from the point of view of the ability to sustain production of natural raw materials (eg cotton, wool, wood pulp,etc.,), the need to have economically and environmentally efficient processing sectors or the requirement that products must be designed with recovery and recyclability in mind.
During April 1995 at Bolton, UK the first major and recent conference on the environmental aspects of the textile and related industries was held to examine and discuss the current position of textile and related plastics wastes. The conference, entitled “Wealth from Waste in Textiles,” was organised jointly by Bolton Institute and the British Textile Technology Group with support from the Textile Institute and the Department of Trade and Industry. The two day conference attracted over 130 delegates from across Europe in the main, with some delegates travelling from the USA and the Far East. Almost thirty papers were presented which covered the general problems of waste production and its minimisation to the more specialised problems facing particular processors of virgin and waste raw materials as well as textile finishers and the advances made in effluent reduction.
This text presents nineteen edited papers which together give a picture of the challenges facing the textile and plastics industries.Both must increasingly be able to demonstrate environmentally acceptable practices while working within a framework of economic viability. Thus they must be able to make products which consumers will buy based on both price and ecological factors. The papers selected will initially overview the magnitude and consequences of excessive waste production, then proceed to discuss waste minimisation strategies and practices, focus on selected areas where recent scientific and technological advances have been made and finally set the problems within the context of current public perceptions, politics and regulations. It is hoped that, although the nineteen papers are not meant to provide a completely comprehensive treatment of all aspects of textile and plastics waste problems and challenges, they will present a series of snapshots which create an overall picture of the current status of waste minimisation, waste recovery and waste recycling across the respective sectors.
A Richard Horrocks