There are many advanced technologies for recycling paper or plastic packaging. These technologies are well known and available worldwide. It is a completely different story with a cardboard box for drinks (hereinafter - BC), which contains plastic film, aluminum foil and cardboard. It is often called the Tetra pack, because Tetra introduced this packaging method to food manufacturers (1961) and still dominates the market. The difficulties of disposal consist in the high quality of the used primary materials and the methods of their connection - they are fixed. These virgin, food grade materials used to make beverage cartons are very valuable materials. It is worth paying attention to two trends associated with the recycling of packaging, combined with various materials: the growing demand for recycling in society and an increase in the number of such packaging per capita and in general. The use of such packaging is highly correlated with the growth of GDP and it is very important to minimize the number of products that are buried in landfills due to loss of quality, which is often associated with improper packaging.
Currently, most of the waste of aircraft is subject to disposal or incineration at energy recovery facilities. A small part, not exceeding 30% (on average in Europe), is processed in paper mills. But only some paper mills are ready to use BC waste as a secondary raw material due to high contamination with plastic and aluminum, and, of course, they are not being recovered and are still being buried.
Talented engineers from Eastern Europe have introduced a new approach for the disposal of aircraft waste. The recycling process uses and recovers 100% of the materials. New products are environmentally friendly, competitive in the market and have a wide usability. Moreover, they are recyclable!
Despite the uniqueness of the technology, it cannot be considered “revolutionary”, since it has already been implemented in several European U.S.A countries for more than ten years and has proven successful.
The basic facts about the technology: o Paper for raw materials-paper for cardboard with polyethylene or other plastic material o Products - wall panels (compared to OSB or wood panels) o Power supply installation 150 kW -500 kW (machine type) o Low energy consumption o Wide range of sizes, thickness, density o Very small amount of needlework o From other process waste o Technological process with aggressive chemical additives
Currently, this approach is the only technology available for 100% recycling of aircraft waste.