Steps Involved in the Recycling of Plastics

Plastic is the most popular and significant material used in the modern world. According to a study, 2.5 million Americans use it on an hourly basis and only 27% of the plastic bottles are recycled. And as the bottles are protected from the sunlight in landfills, they do not decompose for years.

As it is a non-biodegradable, it is important that it is recycled for reducing plastic and solid waste in the environment. So what are the steps involved in the recycling of this material?

1. Collection:

There are various forms of plastics available. Some of them include plastic containers, jars, bottles, plastic bags, packaging plastic, etc. As the name suggests, all kinds of plastics of collected and sent to the collection yard. From the collecting yard, they’re packed and transported to the plastic processing plants.

2. Categorisation:

The next step after the collection is the categorisation. The plastic is categorized based on their resin content and colour. To remove all contaminates based on resin content, specialised machines are available and then the recycling mill categorizes the scrap plastic by symbols which are at the bottom of the plastics.

3. Shredding:

Shredding is the third step in the plastic recycling process which means cutting or tearing. The plastic bottles and containers are cut into small pieces or flakes among which the heavy and light flakes are separated using a specially designed machine. The reason for separation is to ensure that the different kinds of plastics are mixed together in the final product.

4. Cleaning:

After the separation, the flakes are then washed with the detergents to remove the leftover contamination. Once the cleaning process is done, the immaculate flakes are passed through specialized equipment which further divides the plastic resin types. Then, the plastic flakes are later subjected to moderate heat for drying.

5. Melting:

After cleaning, melting is the fifth step in plastic recycling. In this, the dry flakes are melted down and molded into a novel shape. The melting is done under certain temperatures and there are specialized equipments which have been designed to melt down the plastic without destroying them.

6. Making Pellets:

Making pallets is the final step involved in the plastic recycling. In this, the plastic pieces are compressed into tiny pellets called as the nurdels. The nurdels can then be re-used or re-designed into fresh plastic products.

The recycled plastic is barely used to make any identical plastic item or its earlier form. And in the pellet form, plastics are transported to the plastic manufacturing companies for redesigning and can be used in making other effective plastic products.

The different kinds of regular recycled plastics are PET, HDPE, PVC and LDPE. And there are even advantages of recycling. Some of them include:

1. The environment is safe for humans, animals and plants.
2. The recycled plastic can be used for making different products.
3. Recycling requires less of energy when compared to the making.