The induced impact on the environment by combined plastic and paper waste before and after recovery

Abstract

Combined plastic and paper waste (paper envelopes with plastic window, large envelopes made from paper with plastic air bubble, etc.) are not recyclable by current technologies. The storage is the only viable alternative to disposal, but in this case a series of issues arise by the release of pollutant compounds into the leachate. It has been studied the possibility of using this non-recyclable waste by including it in the structure of composite materials that have applicability in the field of constructions. Current paper presents the results obtained in the analysis of leachates from combined plastic and paper waste before being included in the matrices of composite materials and after applying this recovery process. The comparative analysis of the results highlights the environmental impact of each category of waste.