Stakeholder Dialogues on recycling engineering thermoplastics: a collaborative effort to build a recycling infrastructure for plastics from electronics

The Gordon Institute at Tufts University initiated a series of Stakeholder Dialogues on Recycling Engineering Thermoplastics from Used Electronic Equipment in May 1999. The Stakeholder Dialogues bring together the plastics supply chain to develop collaborative industry strategies to advance recycling of plastic resins from used electronic equipment. The Stakeholder Dialogue process has identified major challenges to the successful and sustained recycling of engineering thermoplastics, including cost-effective collection and processing of resins and the development of adequate markets, particularly for mixed resins. Several Task Forces have been established to develop strategies for overcoming these challenges, utilizing the collective expertise of this unique multistakeholder process. This paper discusses the activities of the Task Forces, including the development of a "scrap" classification system for reclaimed engineering resins and a model for comparing alternative scenarios for processing resins from electronic products.