Can PLEXIGLAS^® be recycled?

As an innovative company with international operations, we consider the protection of our environment to be an essential factor when it comes to safeguarding the future of our planet. Our corporate policy therefore places equal emphasis on the sparing use of energy resources and on the development and manufacture of products that are safe and environment-friendly when employed in the correct quantities, and can be recycled or safely disposed of at the end of their service life.

Mechanical recycling means that parts made from PLEXIGLAS^® molding compound can be ground and repelletized after correct separation, and reintroduce into the processing cycle. Since the recycling process leaves the original properties of PLEXIGLAS^® more or less intact, the products manufactured from recycled material are of the same high quality as the original ones.

Chemical recycling is a process in which PLEXIGLAS^® is reduced to its original monomer unit of methyl methacrylate, from which new PLEXIGLAS^® or methacrylate dispersions/emulsions, for example, are built.

Both chemical and mechanical recycling are ways of obtaining high-quality material again from a high-quality product. Naturally, the optical appearance may suffer from impurities introduced during reprocessing.

In thermal recycling - if correctly incinerated - PLEXIGLAS^® only gives rise to water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2), i.e. no pollutant emissions. From this point of view, it is even superior to fossil fuels, which contain sulfur etc.

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