An apparatus for the production of items of clothing, which includes at least one shredder, at least one pulverizer, at least one mixer for the mixing of the powder that originates from the pulverizer with at least one other substance chosen preferably from a solvent, polyethylene glycol, and a polyether and organic binders, with consequent obtainment of a mixture. The apparatus also includes at least one extruder of the mixture, which is arranged on a movement unit with at least two axes, for the deposition of layers of the mixture on a predefined surface, with consequent provision of at least one portion of an item of clothing and the like according to a method of the type of additive manufacturing.

The invention relates to a method in which a starting material for injection-molding, having a viscosity of between 0.50 and 0.7 dL/g, is produced with the aid of a chain breaker from a recycled post-consumer PET having a viscosity of between 0.72 and 0.86 dL/g according to ASTM D4603 and a copolymer fraction of at most approximately 3%. In the method, the comminuted and dried PET material is melted and decontaminated to such a degree that it is suitable for applications in the food sector and the consumer goods sector. A chain breaker is added to the rPET material in the melt of the recycling extruder and/or preferably the melt of the injection unit in order to lower the viscosity and to enrich the PET with copolymers.

Methods of recovering and/or recycling expanded polymer tooling, the methods including collecting expanded polymer tooling, reducing the collected expanded polymer tooling into smaller particles, treating the reduced expanded polymer tooling in order to yield an at least partially purified recovered polymer composition, and then collecting the at least partially purified recovered polymer composition. The at least partially purified recovered polymer composition can then be used to form new expandable polymer tooling.

The invention relates to a for recycling fabric into plastic granule for plastic manufacturing processes, the method comprising the steps of: a) Collecting fabric comprising fabric fibers b) Pulverizing the fabric into a powder of fabric particles c) Pelletizing the powder with a binder such that fabric pellets comprising the powder of fabrics are formed d) Extruding a mixture of the fabric pellets and a plastic compound into plastic granule.

The present invention provides an environmentally-friendly, fully recyclable composite mining screen which has sufficient rigidity to replace existing metal and metal covered plastic mining screens. The inventive composite screen insert contains stiff reinforcing fibers (glass, carbon, etc.) and exhibits the rigidity of metal and metal-covered plastic mining screen inserts so as to minimize deflection in use. The inventive mining screen is also completely recyclable because at the end of its useful life, the broken and used screen can be ground into polymer particles and the particles incorporated into new screens or other parts.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) adding one or more color concentrates to the flakes; (E) passing the group of flakes through an extrusion system while maintaining the pressure within the extrusion system below about 25 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

A method of manufacturing bulked continuous carpet filament which, in various embodiments, comprises: (A) grinding recycled PET bottles into a group of flakes; (B) washing the flakes; (C) identifying and removing impurities, including impure flakes, from the group of flakes; (D) adding one or more color concentrates to the flakes; (E) passing the group of flakes through an MRS extruder while maintaining the pressure within the MRS portion of the MRS extruder below about 25 millibars; (F) passing the resulting polymer melt through at least one filter having a micron rating of less than about 50 microns; and (G) forming the recycled polymer into bulked continuous carpet filament that consists essentially of recycled PET.

Waste product from any of a variety of processes (injection molding, selective laser sintering) is processed to form powders that have particle size and distribution optimal for a 3D printing technology known as Composite Based Additive Manufacturing (CBAM). Alternative recycling processes include grinding and sieving, emulsion extruding, and liquid-liquid phase separation.

A process for producing a polymeric article is provided that includes: sequentially filling a female mould (11) with a first, second, and third batches, wherein the first and third batches include first and third polymeric materials (1p, 3p), and the second batch includes a second polymeric material (2p) and a blowing agent (2b), closing the thus filled cavity with a lid (12) to form a mould defining a closed cavity (10c) of constant volume in time, heating the mould (10) to a processing temperature, to melt the first, second, and third polymeric materials (1p-3p) and to expand the second polymer agent by activation of the blowing agent, cooling and removing the lid (12) to open the cavity and extracting the polymeric article. At least the second polymeric material (2p) includes at least 50 wt. % of recycled polymer in the form of shredded flakes.

A method of reclaiming used tennis balls and transforming the material reclaimed from the tennis balls into soles for footwear. This multi-step process requires acquiring used tennis balls, grinding the tennis balls into ground rubber bits (usable elements) and tennis ball fuzz (unusable elements). The rubber and fuzz are passed through a screen which allows the rubber bits to exit the screen but retains the fuzz. The rubber is then mixed with an H.sub.2O and Polyurethane mixture to form a rubber mixture. This mixture is then pressed to a desired thickness in a hydraulic press, cured, and then cut out into a desired shoe sole shape and size which can be used to manufacture footwear.