Recycling Options for Automotive Shredder Residue

Automotive Shredder Residue, the waste stream produced by shredding operations after the recovery of ferrous and non-ferrous materials from old automobiles, is a complex mix of plastics, rubber, textiles, glass, rust and dirt contaminated with fluids and lubricants. Currently new technologies are emerging to reuse, recycle and recover resources from this waste stream which is currently landfilled. Three recovery options are presently being studied at the National Research Council Canada

• Use of the material as a decontaminating landfill day cover.
• Use of the material in combination with other recycled plastics to produce composite materials.
• Use of the material as a feedstock for the recovery of chemical materials by pyrolysis.

Preliminary results suggest that these options could provide short and medium term solutions to the current disposal problems while longer terms solutions such as design for dismantling are developed. The advantages and limitations of these processes will be considered as they relate to viable environmental solutions to a growing solid waste problem.