Combustion of plastics contained in electric and electronic scrap

Plastic materials have been associated with electric and electronic applications since the early days of the electrical industry. Plastics can amount up to 30% of the scrap mass. Generally, they contains flame retardants such as halogenated compounds which can lead to the formation of different toxic products. Recycling, incineration and landfilling are the current methods used to treat these plastics. They also can be used as combustibles in some metallurgical processes. However, during their combustion, halogenated flame retardants can produce dibenzop-dioxins and dibenzo-furans. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.