Characterization and reprocessing of greenhouse films

Films for greenhouses are an attractive source of post-consumer plastic materials because they are mainly made of polyethylene and can be easily collected in large amounts in small zones. The types of polymers for this application are, however, increasing and the films contain not only additives and stabilisers, but also fertiliser and pesticide residues. Finally, the extent of photooxidative degradation undergone during the use can strongly influence the recycling operations and the final properties of the secondary material. In this work, a complete characterisation of post-consumer films for greenhouses has been carried out and the properties of the recycled material have been correlated with the number of reprocessing steps and compared with those obtained by reprocessing virgin scraps of the same composition. The presence of small amounts of low molecular weight compounds (photooxidized species and pesticide residues) does not compromise the use of the recycled plastic in many applications. The mechanical properties decrease with the number of reprocessing steps and with increasing level of photooxidative degradation but are good enough for many applications