plastic packaging because of the different handlingcharacteristics of rigid packaging. The low weight-to-volume ratio of films and plastic bags also makes itless economically viable to invest in the necessary col-lection and sorting facilities. However, plastic films arecurrently recycled from sources including secondarypackaging such as shrink-wrap of pallets and boxesand some agricultural films, so this is feasible underthe right conditions. Approaches to increasing the re-cycling of films and flexible packaging could includeseparate collection, or investment in extra sorting andprocessing facilities at recovery facilities for handlingmixed plastic wastes. In order to have successful recy-cling of mixed plastics, high-performance sorting ofthe input materials needs to be performed to ensurethat plastic types are separated to high levels of purity;there is, however, a need for the further developmentof endmarkets for each polymer recyclate stream.The effectiveness of post-consumer packaging recy-cling could be dramatically increased if the persity ofmaterials were to be rationalized to a subset of currentusage. For example, if rigid plastic containers rangingfrom bottles, jars to trays were all PET, HDPE and PP,without clear PVC or PS, which are problematic tosort from co-mingled recyclables, then all rigid plasticpackaging could be collected and sorted to makerecycled resins with minimal cross-contamination. Thelosses of rejected material and the value of the recycledresins would be enhanced. In addition, labels andadhesive materials should be selected to maximize recy-cling performance. Improvements in sorting/separationwithin recycling plants give further potential for bothhigher recycling volumes, and better eco-efficiency bydecreasing waste fractions, energy and water use (see§3). The goals should be to maximize both thevolume and quality of recycled resins.9. CONCLUSIONSIn summary, recycling is one strategy for end-of-lifewaste management of plastic products. It makesincreasing sense economically as well as environmen-tally and recent trends demonstrate a substantialincrease in the rate of recovery and recycling of plasticwastes. 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