Page 16 - Plastics News May 2019

ENVIRONMENT

5 Stages of the Plastic Recycling Process

lastic recycling is the term given to the processing of that funnel the clean scrap towards rotating metal teeth
Pwaste plastic which turns old or scrap plastic in to a that rip the plastic in to small pellets which are bagged
useable product which can then re-enter the manufacturing up afterwards ready for testing.
chain. In order for the plastic to be in a suitable format for Stage Four – Identify and Classify the Plastic
reuse in manufacturing environments such as by injection Once the shredded plastic has been bagged it is then
moulding companies the waste or scrap plastic, needs to FKHPLFDOO\ WHVWHG DQG ODEHOOHG DV WR LWV H[DFW VSHFLÀFDWLRQ
go through several recycling processes. this rGrade plastic can be used as is by adding to a mix
Stage One – Sorting the Plastic of virgin plastic in a manufacturing run, alternatively the
Firstly the waste plastic needs to be collected by the rGrade plastic can be further recycled.
recycling company, once the plastic arrives at the recycling Stage Five – Extruding
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types, plastic recycling is more complex than that of melting the clean shredded plastic and extruding in to
metal or glass recycling due to the many different types the form of pellets which then go on to manufacture the
of plastic and more importantly mixed plastic cannot be next lot of plastic products.
used in manufacturing without delivering poor quality Reasons to Recycle Plastic
products, hence why plastic recycling companies need to
be thorough when it comes to sorting the waste plastic 0LOOLRQV RI WRQV RI ZDVWH SODVWLF HQG XS LQ ODQGÀOO ZKHQ
in to the different forms prior to the next stage in the the vast majority of it can be recycled, it’s all too easy
recycling process. for us to throw away rubbish without a second thought but
we need to take care of our planet and not just reduce
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the amount of rubbish we bury but also given that plastic
2QFH WKH ZDVWH SODVWLF KDV EHHQ LGHQWLÀHG DQG VHSDUDWHG is derived from oil a natural product with ever depleting
in to one of its many forms the cleaning process can begin, resources it makes sense to recycling as much as possible.
this usually starts with washing to remove paper labels, Recycled products are becoming more popular and are set
adhesives and other impurities, all the labels on your to continue as oil exploration moves to ever more hostile
plastic containers, bottles and even your wheelie bin need DQG GLIÀFXOW WR UHDFK ORFDWLRQV ZKLFK ZLOO RI FRXUVH UHVXOW
to be completely removed as these will lower the quality in prices of products made from oil will increase.
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Stage Three- Shredding the Plastic Sanat Shah | Plastics Project & Recycling Consultant
B-100 Shrenik Park | Opp. Akota Stadium
The shredding stage is when the waste plastic is taken and
loaded on to conveyor belts or directly in to huge hoppers Vadodara Gujarat | India 390 020
M: +91-9825055314 l sanat.1957@gmail.com

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Plastics News May 2019 16