Surface treatment by the Fe(III)/sulfite system for flotation separation of hazardous chlorinated plastics from the mixed waste plastics.

•A novel surface treatment method based S-AOPs was developed for flotation separation of PVC.•The optimized conditions of surface treatment were mild and flexible.•PVC was selectively separated with 100% recovery and 99.84% purity.•FT-IR and XPS results indicated hydrophilic groups formed on plastics surface except for PVC.•A plausible mechanism oxidation of plastics with sulfate radicals was proposed.