Approaches to deal with the issue of plastic packages and the environment

Methods of treating the solid plastic waste are reviewed. The diffusion coe fficients of toluene and benzyl alcohol in PET were determined from sorptio n experiments. For toluene, desorption (into water) experiments were also c arried out and the diffusion coefficients were determined for various initi al toluene concentrations in the polymer. The diffusion coefficients from t he latter experiments were significantly lower than those determined from t he sorption studies. In migration of toluene from the contaminated PET into water, a reduction of two orders of magnitude in the level of migration wa s achieved by sandwiching the contaminated PET between two layers of the vi rgin polymer. In another study, properties of Nylon 6/PE blends reprocessed at various shear rates were evaluated. The results showed that after minim um mixing of the blend obtained from a Nylon 6/PE laminate, the low oxygen permeability of the original film was preserved.