In this webinar, a comprehensive overview of the existing recovery methods and flowsheets will be presented, and the advantages and disadvantages of each method and flowsheet will be evaluated. Moreover, research findings from a newly launched exploratory project funded by REMADE about precious metal recovery from PCBs will be presented.

In this project webinar, we learn about how commercially available options and processes in development for sortation of automobile steel scrap were evaluated to determine if there may be a viable method to remove some of the undesirable impurities prior to feeding to an electric arc furnace.

Discover how one city is tackling some unique and some not so unique challenges in recycling and how they plan for the future of recycling.

In an update to her Summer 2019 webinar, Dr. Nurcin Celik will provide an overview of paper recycling and the challenges it faces today with a focus on her REMADE-funded project. She will discuss the sources and types of paper and the processes by which they are separated and recycled into quality paper products. Her graduate student, Temitope Runsewe will then discuss the statistical analysis conducted and identify the major factors that contribute to the contamination of inbound and outbound materials. They will also discuss how these challenges could be turned into new economic and environmental opportunities for future recycling by building on recommendations from best practices and emerging technologies.

The virtual workshop will give business and sustainability professionals a deeper understanding of how plastics recycling works through a “Crash Course in Plastics Recycling” presented by the REMADE Institute. It will also serve as an introduction to some of the programs and resources available to New York State companies looking to make plastics recovery a part of their business strategies.

More than eight billion tons of plastic waste has accumulated worldwide over the past 50 years. The majority (80%) of the waste goes directly into landfills and 3% ends up in the oceans. At the current rate, we will end up having more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050. Plastics are persistent in the environment and degrade slowly (over a century), releasing fragments, microplastics, and toxic chemicals into our lands, rivers, and oceans. In particular, single-use packaging, textile, and composite plastic such as e-waste are attributed to more than 50% of the plastic waste.

This webinar will discuss:
1) The bottleneck of conventional plastic recycling;
2) State-of-the-art emerging chemical recycling methods (e.g., pyrolysis, chemolysis, and hydrothermal processes)
3) Case studies about using chemical recycling to reuse the end-of-life waste.

Electrodynamic sorting (EDX) is a new form of eddy current separation developed at the University of Utah. Rather than rotate a cylindrical drum of permanent magnets, this technology excites a stationary electromagnet with an alternating electrical current. The resulting frequency of excitation is far greater than anything which can be achieved through mechanical rotation, allowing the separation of nonferrous metals from other nonferrous metals.

In its present embodiment, the assembly is capable of processing over 1 ton of industrial Zorba per hour. After passing through the magnetic field, lightweight aluminum particles are thrown up and over a mechanical divider, resulting in an enriched 97 % aluminum product. Recovery of the aluminum is also very high, with typical values ranging between 80—90 %.

Paper is one of the most recycled materials globally today. Producing paper with recycled fibers consumes 30-70% less energy and emits less greenhouse gas than using virgin (fresh-cut) wood. However, with current paper recovery practice, more foreign matters are commingled with the recycled paper which include plastic films, metal foils, glass debris, and food residues. In addition, more and more additives are added to the current papermaking or converting process such as inorganic fillers, starch, wet-strength polymers, wax and coating materials, which will become “contaminants” in the paper remanufacturing. Contaminants in recycled paper not only make the paper remanufacturing process more costly but also affect the quality of the paper remanufactured.

In this webinar, Dr. Kecheng Li will present an overview of the paper recycling process with a focus on the challenging issues in the paper remanufacturing process. Dr. Kecheng Li is a professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Paper Engineering at Western Michigan University. He has more than 20 years of experience in pulp and paper research and technology development.

With global concerns over single-use plastics waste, there is an urgent need to understand these flexible materials and how to improve their collection, sorting and reprocessing.

This webinar will cover the composition and structure of typical flexible packaging types, discuss current options for recycling these materials, and share recent results from REMADE-funded work on this topic.

During this webinar, Dr. Nurcin Celik provided an overview of paper recycling and the challenges it faces today with the ever-increasing prevalence of single stream recycling.

She discussed the sources and types of paper and the processes by which they are separated and recycled into quality paper products. Dr. Celik also discussed how these challenges could be turned into new economic and environmental opportunities for future recycling.

During this one hour webinar, Dr. Michael Free will provide an overview of metals recycling. He will discuss the sources of metal scrap and the processes by which metals are separated and recycled into purified metals. Dr. Free will cover specific details for steel, aluminum, copper, and precious metals recycling, and he will discuss the opportunities for future recycling and the inherent economic and environmental values in metals recycling.

Michael Free is a Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. His areas of expertise include corrosion, electrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy, and materials synthesis.

Join REMADE Institute’s thought leader and expert in polymers and recycling, Brian Riise, as he shares his perspective on the technology of plastic recycling in the US. Less than 10% of the plastics discarded in the US are recovered for recycling, with the remainder (over 30 million tons per year) ending up in landfills.

In this webinar, you'll learn more about:

• Technologies available to recycle waste plastics.

• Review existing and emerging technologies available for cleaning, separating, purifying and compounding these waste plastics into high quality pellets suitable for use in new products.

• Address the limitations of mechanical recycling and areas where chemical recycling might be viable options.

Recycling markets around the world are experiencing significant upheaval.
In this webinar, join internationally recognized sustainability expert David Refkin—Resource Recycling Systems' senior affiliate consultant, REMADE Institute's Strategic Advisory Committee chair and Governance Committee member, and Dr. Michael Free—technical leader for the recycling & recovery arm of the REMADE Institute and a professor for the Department of Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Utah.

David and Michael will explore the challenges and opportunities that exist in the current global recycling landscape and discuss the vast, cross-industry implications.

In this webinar, you'll learn more about:

• How international policies impact recycling around the world

• Why the domestic recycling industry is concerned about the implications

• What opportunities exist to improve outcomes and will technology play a big role?