Thermoplastic compositions comprising recycled polymers and articles manufactured therefrom

A thermoplastic composition comprising:

• from 0.5 wt % to 75.0 wt. % of a recycled polyethylene comprising a blend of polyethylene recovered from post-consumer material, pre-consumer material, or combinations thereof;
• and from 25.0 wt. % to 99.5 wt % of virgin raw polyethylene comprising unimodal polyethylene, bimodal polyethylene, or combinations thereof, wherein:
• the recycled polyethylene has:
• a density of from 0.920 g/cm3 to 0.975 g/cm3 when measured according to ASTM D792-08, Method B;
• a melt index (I2) of from 0.30 dg/min to 3.00 dg/min when measured according to ASTM D1238-10, Method B, at 190° C. and a 2.16 kg load;
• a melt flow ratio (MFR21) greater than or equal to 50, wherein the melt flow ratio (MFR21) is a ratio of a high load melt index (I21) of the recycled polyethylene to the melt index (I2), and the high load melt index (I21) is measured according to ASTM D1238-10, Method B, at 190° C. and a 21.6 kg load;
• a melting point (Tm) of from 105° C. to 135° C. when measured by Dynamic Scanning calorimetry (DSC) according to ASTM D3418-15;
• and
• from 0.1 wt. % to 10 wt. % of polymer chains having a logarithm molecular weight (Log M) less than 2.5 when measured using gel permeation chromatography (GPC);
• the unimodal polyethylene has:
• a density of from 0.930 g/cm3 to 0.950 g/cm3 when measured according to ASTM D792-08, Method B;
• a melt index (I2) of from 0.30 dg/min to 1.00 dg/min when measured according to ASTM D1238-10, Method B, at 190° C. and a 2.16 kg load;
• and
• a melt flow ratio (MFR21) greater than or equal to 30, wherein the melt flow ratio (MFR21) is a ratio of a high load melt index (I21) of the unimodal polyethylene to the melt index (I2), and the high load melt index (I21) is measured according to ASTM D1238-10, Method B, at 190° C. and a 21.6 kg load;
• the bimodal polyethylene has:
• a density of from 0.933 g/cm3 to 0.960 g/cm3 when measured according to ASTM D792-08, Method B;
• a melt index (I2) of from 0.30 dg/min to 2.00 dg/min when measured according to ASTM D1238-10, Method B, at 190° C. and a 2.16 kg load;
• a melt flow ratio (MFR21) greater than or equal to 80.0, wherein the melt flow ratio (MFR21) is a ratio of a high load melt index (I21) of the bimodal polyethylene to the melt index (I2), and the high load melt index (I21) is measured according to ASTM D1238-10, Method B, at 190° C. and a 21.6 kg load;
• a molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) greater than or equal to 6, wherein the molecular weight distribution (Mw/Mn) is a ratio of a weight average molecular weight (Mw) of the bimodal polyethylene to a number average molecular weight (Mn) of the bimodal polyethylene, and the weight average molecular weight (Mw) and the number average molecular weight (Mn) are measured using gel permeation chromatography (GPC);
• and
• a reverse comonomer distribution, wherein a ratio of a short chain branching distribution of the high molecular weight component (SCBD2) to a short chain branching distribution of the low molecular weight component (SCBD1) is greater than 1.0, and the short chain branching distribution of the high molecular weight component (SCBD2) and the short chain branching distribution of the low molecular weight component (SCBD1) are measured using gel permeation chromatography (GPC);
• and
• at least 90.0 wt. % of the thermoplastic composition is comprised of the recycled polyethylene and the virgin raw polyethylene.