Comparative Analysis of Transfer and Continual Learning for Vision-Based Particle Classification in Plastics Sorting for Recycling
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (12/2024)
In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of transfer and continual learning techniques for vision-based trash particle detection and classification in plastics recycling. This task poses unique challenges for vision-based methods due to the great variety of particles in recycling material flows, their variability over time, and the lack of real recycling industrial datasets available for research.
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (12/2024)
In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of transfer and continual learning techniques for vision-based trash particle detection and classification in plastics recycling. This task poses unique challenges for vision-based methods due to the great variety of particles in recycling material flows, their variability over time, and the lack of real recycling industrial datasets available for research.
Measuring the Flow Properties of Secondary Plastics
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (12/2024)
Recycling of plastics, particularly in high-value applications, is essential for sustainable resource management and achieving climate targets. A critical challenge lies in developing robust processing methods that ensure consistent feeding of secondary raw materials into recycling machinery.
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (12/2024)
Recycling of plastics, particularly in high-value applications, is essential for sustainable resource management and achieving climate targets. A critical challenge lies in developing robust processing methods that ensure consistent feeding of secondary raw materials into recycling machinery.
Odor Characterization of Post-Consumer PP Bottles after Different Washing Processes
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The reprocessing of post-consumer plastic is of paramount importance for the preservation of our environment. Reprocessing, or recycling, can allow society to insert polymers into a circular economy, thus, consuming less raw resources and lowering the carbon footprint of plastic products (Meys et al. 2020).
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
The reprocessing of post-consumer plastic is of paramount importance for the preservation of our environment. Reprocessing, or recycling, can allow society to insert polymers into a circular economy, thus, consuming less raw resources and lowering the carbon footprint of plastic products (Meys et al. 2020).
Mechanical and Thermal Characterization of Multiprocessed PHBs
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
As our society is becoming more conscious and responsible collectively, EU guidelines on the Circular Economy were developed to help companies to practice the same in their industries. Bioplastics as an alternative feedstock are gaining traction as shown by the bioplastics market projection, expecting growth in production capacities from 2.41 million tonnes in 2021 to 7.59 million tonnes by 2026. (European Bioplastics e.V. 2021).
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
As our society is becoming more conscious and responsible collectively, EU guidelines on the Circular Economy were developed to help companies to practice the same in their industries. Bioplastics as an alternative feedstock are gaining traction as shown by the bioplastics market projection, expecting growth in production capacities from 2.41 million tonnes in 2021 to 7.59 million tonnes by 2026. (European Bioplastics e.V. 2021).
A novel approach to environmental cleanup of inland water courses
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Despite growing awareness and improving practices, littering is a worldwide challenge with catastrophic impact on the ecosystem. Inland waters in particular represent one of the main sources of pollution for the oceans. Detecting and retrieving this waste when still in rivers is an effective and efficient way to remediate the environment before the damage spreads over large areas. Implementing barriers faces a range of technical and economic challenges, leading to long and complex project developments. For this reason, the Italian company Mold S.r.l. decided to adopt a life-cycle perspective to study potential projects with their innovative barrier River Cleaning system and focus on the most impactful. In this paper we present LCA results done on exemplary regions and derive the learnings and criteria for future market developments of the system, linking thus life-cycle thinking and business development.
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2022)
Despite growing awareness and improving practices, littering is a worldwide challenge with catastrophic impact on the ecosystem. Inland waters in particular represent one of the main sources of pollution for the oceans. Detecting and retrieving this waste when still in rivers is an effective and efficient way to remediate the environment before the damage spreads over large areas. Implementing barriers faces a range of technical and economic challenges, leading to long and complex project developments. For this reason, the Italian company Mold S.r.l. decided to adopt a life-cycle perspective to study potential projects with their innovative barrier River Cleaning system and focus on the most impactful. In this paper we present LCA results done on exemplary regions and derive the learnings and criteria for future market developments of the system, linking thus life-cycle thinking and business development.
Environmental effects of fireworks with special consideration of plastic emissions
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
In Germany, about 133 million Euro are spent annually for New Year’s Eve fireworks, which result in 38,000 to 49,000 Mg of total firework mass. By a com-bination of desk research with official fireworks approval statistics, a customer survey, dismantling experiments with fireworks debris and with packaging characterisation, the total nationwide polymer emission was estimated to be 3,088 Mg. Out of this total mass, a projected polymer debris mass of 534 Mg was identified, and about 270 Mg of polymer packaging material. The remaining 2283 Mg of polymer mass are parts that eventually may remain at the launching site.
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
In Germany, about 133 million Euro are spent annually for New Year’s Eve fireworks, which result in 38,000 to 49,000 Mg of total firework mass. By a com-bination of desk research with official fireworks approval statistics, a customer survey, dismantling experiments with fireworks debris and with packaging characterisation, the total nationwide polymer emission was estimated to be 3,088 Mg. Out of this total mass, a projected polymer debris mass of 534 Mg was identified, and about 270 Mg of polymer packaging material. The remaining 2283 Mg of polymer mass are parts that eventually may remain at the launching site.
The circular packaging design guideline and holistic sustainability assessment in circular economy
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The FH Campus Wien Circular Packaging Design Guideline provide recommendations for circular design for the whole supply chain. Circular design is a necessary prerequisite to achieve the goals of the European Circular Economy Package which requires full recyclability of packaging by 2030. Circular packaging should re-duce resource consumption and environmental impacts of packaging. The assessment of packaging sustainability requires the calculation of direct and indirect environmental impacts and circularity at the same time. A method for holistic sustainability assessment of packaging has been proposed by FH Campus Wien and developed in an ECR-working group (Efficient Consumer Response) with the participation of a number of companies along the whole supply chain (brand owners, retailers, packaging manufacturers and packaging systems).
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The FH Campus Wien Circular Packaging Design Guideline provide recommendations for circular design for the whole supply chain. Circular design is a necessary prerequisite to achieve the goals of the European Circular Economy Package which requires full recyclability of packaging by 2030. Circular packaging should re-duce resource consumption and environmental impacts of packaging. The assessment of packaging sustainability requires the calculation of direct and indirect environmental impacts and circularity at the same time. A method for holistic sustainability assessment of packaging has been proposed by FH Campus Wien and developed in an ECR-working group (Efficient Consumer Response) with the participation of a number of companies along the whole supply chain (brand owners, retailers, packaging manufacturers and packaging systems).
Packaging recycling in EU member states – requirements from the circular economy package
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The EU has established concrete recycling targets for packaging waste for 2025 and 2030. Furthermore, the methodology for calculating the corresponding recycling rates has been amended. The new and stricter calculation methodology will potentially lead to decreases of the current rates. This will be particularly the case for plastic packaging, where denkstatt calculated a gap far above 10 % compared to smaller decreases (> 2 %) to be expected for glass or steel packaging.
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The EU has established concrete recycling targets for packaging waste for 2025 and 2030. Furthermore, the methodology for calculating the corresponding recycling rates has been amended. The new and stricter calculation methodology will potentially lead to decreases of the current rates. This will be particularly the case for plastic packaging, where denkstatt calculated a gap far above 10 % compared to smaller decreases (> 2 %) to be expected for glass or steel packaging.
Collective research projects: Reviewing gaps in the recycling of multilayer flexible food packaging
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
Recyclability and sustainability are conflicts in multilayer flexible food packaging, where material combinations (polymers, paper, aluminium) intend functionality. To increase the sustainability of multilayer flexible packaging through recyclable solutions, systemic and technical obstacles need to be considered. A holistic redesign approach, addressing food protection and the packaging’s end of life (collection, sorting, recycling) is essential to improve these already sustainable packaging solutions. To this, current collective research projects at the University of Applied Sciences, aim to closely link science and industry, promote research in the field of sustainable packaging and provide solutions to recycling goals of the European Union.
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
Recyclability and sustainability are conflicts in multilayer flexible food packaging, where material combinations (polymers, paper, aluminium) intend functionality. To increase the sustainability of multilayer flexible packaging through recyclable solutions, systemic and technical obstacles need to be considered. A holistic redesign approach, addressing food protection and the packaging’s end of life (collection, sorting, recycling) is essential to improve these already sustainable packaging solutions. To this, current collective research projects at the University of Applied Sciences, aim to closely link science and industry, promote research in the field of sustainable packaging and provide solutions to recycling goals of the European Union.
PlasticFreeDanube: Composition of macro-plastic waste in and along the Danube River
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The reliable estimates are essential to developing measures to reduce plastic pollution and to make successes measurable and visible. For this reason, the cross-border project "PlasticFreeDanube" (PFD), which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of Interreg Slovakia-Austria, aims to gain new knowledge on this topic for the Danube.
© Lehrstuhl fĂĽr Abfallverwertungstechnik und Abfallwirtschaft der Montanuniversität Leoben (11/2020)
The reliable estimates are essential to developing measures to reduce plastic pollution and to make successes measurable and visible. For this reason, the cross-border project "PlasticFreeDanube" (PFD), which is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund within the framework of Interreg Slovakia-Austria, aims to gain new knowledge on this topic for the Danube.
