Specific to the current situation where recycled plastics have limited application scope and low added value, the work aims to explore the application of recycled plastics in heavy duty packaging films and develop a closed-loop recycling pathway among films. Heavy duty packaging film trimmings from industrial production and discarded film bags after use were recycled to prepare recycled polyethylene (rPE) plastic pellets. These pellets were successfully incorporated into the formulation of heavy duty packaging films to produce films containing 20%, 51.8%, and 70% rPE. These films were compared with virgin material films (0% rPE) to analyze the impact of recycled plastics on the performance of heavy duty packaging films. As the content of recycled plastics increased, the thermodynamic properties, haze, tear resistance, elongation at break, yield stress, and heat-sealing strength of the films decreased. However, the melt index, tensile properties, impact resistance, and aging properties performed well when the rPE content in the films was at medium-to-low levels (20%, 51.8% rPE), outperforming virgin material films. Moderate addition of recycled plastics (20% rPE) has a positive effect on some mechanical properties of the film, while high-proportion addition (70% rPE) leads to a sharp decline in film performance. Therefore, appropriately increasing the rPE content in the film can improve processing performance, enhance bubble stability, and boost film uniformity. The application of recycled polyethylene in heavy duty packaging films not only provides a new scenario for the high-value utilization of recycled plastics.
Key words
recycled polyethylene (rPE) /
heavy duty packaging film /
plastic circularity
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