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Plastic recycling involves sorting, washing, and melting plastic into pellets that can be used to make different products. Plastics are sorted by type and may be sold or put in a landfill if they can’t be processed. Recycling doesn’t necessarily reduce the demand for virgin plastic but can save other resources.
Many people wonder what happens to the plastic containers they deposit in curbside recycling, take to recycling centers or throw in the bins in classrooms and offices around the world. The plastic recycling process requires several steps to turn discarded plastic into new products. One thing people should be aware of when thinking about this process is that plastics usually come downstream. In other words, instead of turning old yogurt containers into new yogurt containers, the original container material is used to make a different type of product, because it cannot be used the same way twice.
The first step is sorting out the different types of recyclable products in a recycling plant. Many regions use single-stream recycling, where all items are collected at the same time, so basic categories such as paper, plastics and metals must first be separated. After that, the plastic must be sorted for recycling.
During sorting, the plastic is divided by type. Some facilities will only process certain types of products, meaning items they can’t handle may be sold to another facility that can handle them or put in a landfill, depending on company policy. Consumers concerned about whether or not their plastic is being recycled may want to ask their recycling company what they do with items they can’t process.
After sorting, the plastic is ground into flakes or flakes. At this point, it’s usually mixed with many impurities, including bits of labels, bits of the material that once held the plastic, and so on. Consequently, it must be washed in a bath that will clean the plastic, before it dries and then melts. Once melted, the material forms into pellets known as nurdles.
The nurdles can be used as a raw material for other manufacturing processes. For example, they can be made into fibers to make products such as artificial fleece, or they can be processed into engineered wood products, used to make carpeting, and used in the manufacture of products such as floor mats and floor tiles. Businesses wishing to use recycled plastics can purchase these pellets by truck for various applications.
Plastic recycling is not easy. One problem is that dyes can contaminate the material, making it difficult and sometimes impossible to recycle. Plastics can also be contaminated with impurities such as heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and bits of biodegradable plastic that accidentally mix with petroleum-derived items. Recyclers try to identify these impurities before they contaminate an entire batch, but this isn’t always possible.
While recycling is definitely a good thing to do, it doesn’t necessarily reduce the demand for virgin plastic. Products made from virgin plastic usually cannot be made from recycled materials. However, recycling plastics reduces the demand for other resources. For example, by making engineered lumber out of plastic, trees can be saved.
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