9 Most Common Plastics for Electronic Devices and Enclosures

Almost all your electronic devices will have some degree of plastic coverage. Sometimes this is the entire device such as charging transfers or the shells of TVs, or  partially such as the front face of a HI-Fi unit or cable TV box.

The challenge every scrapper will know is that for the most part this plastic is not directly recyclable and often quite hard to crack open.

So, what are the 9 most common plastics for electronic devices and enclosures.

The Types of Plastic

Plastic is ubiquitous inn our society. Its versatility and relative strength has found many uses since Leo Baekeland pioneered the first fully synthetic plastic in 1907.

Plastics are important to modern life, even though there is a lot of mistrust. Plastics made it possible to make computers, cell phones, and most of the life-saving changes in modern medicine. Plastics are lightweight and good at insulating, which means they help save fossil fuels that are used to heat and move things. Perhaps the most important thing about cheap plastics was that they raised the standard of living and made more materials available. Without plastics, many of the things we take for granted might be out of reach for everyone but the wealthiest people in the world. We use plastic instead of natural materials for a lot of our things because they are cheaper, lighter, safer, and stronger.

Over time different types of plastic have been developed, Each with its own characteristics and benefits fitting its situation. Here are the nine most common plastics

• Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) – a low cost and durable plastic commonly found in everything from cars to toys.
• Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylester and Polycarbonate (ASA+PC Blend) designed with high temperatures in mind as well as flame retardant properties. Also resistant to UV
• Polyamide (PA) found in cable ties and power tools, has a glossy appearance and is very tough.
• Polybutylene Terephthalate (PBT) like ASA _ PC Blend, has good temperature resistance and commonly used in plugs. Extremely hard to break down.
• Polycarbonate (PC) part of the polyester family and is transparent with a high tensile strength. Found in goggles and medical devices.
• Polycarbonate + Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (PC+ABS Blend). Can cope with sub Zero temperatures and is highly impact resistant. Commonly used for electrical enclosures.
• Polymethyl Methacrylate, Acrylic, Plexiglas (PMMA) more commonly known as acrylic and is transparent and lightweight. 
• Polyphenylene Ether+Polystyrene (PPE+PS) another one which is hard to break down and commonly sued in electrical enclosures like transformers.
• Styrene Ethylene Butadiene Styrene (SEBS). This is the rubbery one so often found where hand holding is common place. It is also weather resistant.

Manufacturers will consider the properties of each plastic when making decisions about the right choices for their products.

NOTE: High Density Poly Ethylene (HDPE) is a common plastic found in drinks bottles but its roll in electronic devices is rare. PET (also abbreviated PETE) is short for polyethylene terephthalate, the chemical name for polyester. These plastics are uncommon in electronics.

Identifying Plastic.

There are no international regulations for identifying plastics but sometimes there will be marks or symbols to help you. Such as:

Only experience and where you locate the plastic will help you identify the different types. Though some will have more obvious properties than others such as SEBS.

Recycling plastic:

 here are a lot of reasons to recycle plastic. Most of it doesn’t break down, so it builds up in the environment, where it can do harm. A lot of waste plastic goes into the Earth’s oceans every year, causing harm to the aquatic ecosystem and forming large garbage patches in the water.

Today, most recycling is done by melting down and making new things out of old plastic. This is called mechanical recycling. These changes can happen at a chemical level, and they also need to be sorted by both colour and type of polymer before they can be reprocessed. This is complicated and expensive to do, so it’s not something you want to do. Failures in this can lead to a material with different properties, which is not good for industry.

Additionally the money value of scrap plastic is very low comparted to some metals. And volume is key.

There is a lot of cynicism about recycling pasltic and a great deal of speculation that much of it ends up in third world counties or landfill

Most of us have seen the pictures or videos of children scavenging large piles of waste, just to survive.

What Can the Scrapper do?

Ecologically minded scrappers will be keen to reduce their landfill rubbish as much as possible. If your local recycling ;point accepts plastic user that. If necessary seek assurance from the company runnihng it what they do with ther plastic.

There are options to recycle and use plastic in crafts as well if you are so minded. Milk bottle tops are always popular not only with crafters but schools and nurseries for projects and play. You do have the option  with come plastics to melt them down and mould them into new shapes.

Just try not to burn it yourself. The fumes are not pleasant for the environment or your lungs. it releases a suite of dangerous chemicals; carbon monoxide, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide.

There are options to sue plastic as a burning fuel, but such incinerators are very closely regulated and contain plenty of filters to prevent accidently leakage of dangerous fumes. They are also very expensive to set up.

• Provides a sustainable source of raw materials to the industry
• Greatly reduces the environmental (especially the CO2) impact of plastic-rich products
• Minimises the amount of plastic being sent to the UK’s landfill sites
• Avoids the consumption of the Earth’s oil stocks
• Consumes less energy than producing new, virgin polymers
• Embeds the right values and behaviour to reduce human impact on the environment

Source: https://www.bpf.co.uk/Sustainability/Plastics_Recycling.aspx

Conclusion.

Plastic is not going way, especially with the emergence of 3D printing. It also haves a huge money making benefit for the petrochemical industry.

So, the scrapper needs to deal with it for some time yet. Remember to try to divert your waste plastic from landfill if possible. Have a separate bin for in in your workshop and then take it to your local recycling centre.