Insight into reuse of high impact polystyrene from post-consumer electronics equipment housings

Abstract

This paper focuses on engineering approaches for sustainability and design for materials reuse through preliminary studies of characterization of post-consumer resin properties and experimental blends. Because these challenges are multidisciplinary, collaboration between chemical engineering (polymer processing), industrial engineering (manufacturing processes), and mechanical engineering (product design) are described. In this paper, we describe our progress in evaluating the viability of reusing post-consumer and virgin polymer blends of high impact polystyrene from electronics equipment housings. Plastics reuse challenges are briefly reviewed, and experimental results, such as rheological properties, physical properties, simulation and design properties of a relatively thin-wall application are summarized for reuse of high impact polystyrene (HIPS) from printer and monitor housings.