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Madison, Wis., University Funds Program to Recycle Computer Plastics

Posted on: Thursday, 11 August 2005, 21:00 CDT

Aug. 12--Two Wisconsin businesses, with the help of a UW-Madison engineering professor, are working to write a new chapter in computer recycling.

Recycling the innards of computers is nothing new. But Cascade Asset Management of Madison, Pro Ex Extrusion of Oshkosh, and professor Tim Osswald, who heads the university's Polymer Engineering Center, have combined their efforts to see if the plastics in computers can be turned into high-end, valuable products.

Their efforts are funded by a two-year $60,000 grant from the UW System's Solid Waste Research Program. The program gets its funding from fees paid to the state by haulers who dump waste in Wisconsin landfills.

Osswald and a graduate student have been studying the characteristics and suitability of the plastic, known as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, or ABS, for such processing.

"ABS makes products look high quality. They don't shrink and warp. An expensive coffee-maker would be made out of ABS," Osswald said.

Cascade currently bundles this plastic and ships it to China, where it is made into filler for luggage.

The company gets about 4 cents per pound, says Neil Peters-Michaud, Cascade's chief executive officer. In the first half of this year, the company shipped 275,300 pounds of plastic to China.

Recycling the plastics for more sophisticated uses, Peters-Michaud said, could bring the company as much as 18 cents per pound and help support Wisconsin businesses.

"It's something that's just beginning to evolve in any significant degree. That's true whether it's Europe, Japan or the United States," said Michael Fisher, senior director of technology at the American Plastics Council, in Arlington, Va.

"Anybody who is pioneering the ability to do this is, indeed, a pioneer," he said.

It may be groundbreaking now, said Pro Ex president Gary Borgers, but he expects that in 10 years using recycled computer plastics will be as ordinary as recycling milk jugs is today.

Computer plastics are seen as a major problem for recyclers, Osswald said. And a survey by Resource and Recycling Magazine bears that out. The Portland, Ore.-based publication found that last year computer recyclers rated getting rid of the plastic their second biggest headache, said Jerry Powell, the editor and publisher.

He applauds the Wisconsin effort, not only because it is working to recycle these plastics into high-end uses, but because of its approach involving both an academic researcher and businesses. Though the effort is still in the research stage, Osswald does envision uses for the recycled material.

"One possibility is body panels for tractors," he said. He said he has talked with the Bemis Manufacturing Co. in Sheboygan Falls, which makes body panels for John Deere tractors.

One concern is getting rid of the flame retardant materials in the plastics, which can pose hazards. But Borgers expects the levels to be low enough not to cause a problem.

While recycling computer plastics would improve business for Pro Ex and Cascade, the number of jobs added may not be that great, at least initially. Borgers talks of adding two jobs at first, but that may eventually grow to a dozen, he said.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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BMS, DE,

Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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