Includes bibliographical references (pages 23-28), appendices, and indexes.

Introduction and summary -- Technical approach -- Thermodynamic analyses -- Kinetic analyses -- Preliminary design and economic analyses -- Conclusions and recommendations. In June 1968, TRW Systems Group, under contract to the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's Bureau of Solid Waste Management, undertook a project to investigate analytically the use of waste plastic materials for the production of high-volume process chemicals. The objectives of the analysis were as follows: to identify waste plastic/coreactant reaction products with potential commercial value; to identify waste plastic/air combustion products that are potential air pollutants; to conceive of and provide technical and economic evaluations for chemical processes utilizing waste plastics as raw materials; and to identify potential R & D programs leading to the development of commercially viable chemical processes.