Pilot Plant Study of the Recyclability of Pressure Sensitive Adhesives (PSA), 1998 Recycling Symposium Proceedings

This paper discusses the operation and results obtained from a pilot plant study of the recycleability of post consumer PSA postage stamp material. The trial work was carried out in May of 1997 at the Beloit Corp. Pulping Group Pilot Plant in Pittsfield MA. in cooperation with the U.S. Postal Service, and the U.S.D.A. Forest Products Lab in Madison WI.. This work is a part of a much larger USPS development program currently under way with the main objective being “to develop postage stamps that do not adversely affect the environment”. The goal of the project is to develop a PSA material which can be successfully recycled in the typical mixed office waste (MOW) deinking system producing a pulp for inclusion in printing and writing grades. This trial looks at a PSA currently being used in the manufacture of the postage stamp laminate material and its removal in a pilot plant system configured in such a way so as to mimic the first loop in a typical MOW deinking system.