Step-By-Step Process Of Plastic Recycling

Recycling plastic is not as hard as manufacturing new plastic products. Even so, plastic recycling is not a walk in the park. This involves strict procedures and attention to detail. The process may take months.

Apart from the type of plastic and its use, usually undergo a number of general steps during plastic recycling. Here are some important steps to recycle plastic materials.

Waste plastic collection:

The first step to plastic reprocessing is collecting waste plastic products. Even though this process might look like an easy task, it's not entirely. At this stage, employees or volunteers go around collecting garbage plastic from home, office, and public places. 

Different Plastic Types and How they are Recycled

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Sort plastic into the category:

After collecting, recyclers send plastic they have collected to facilities where they separate plastics according to type. As you should know, plastic is different in size, color, thickness, and use. In this process, recycled machines sort out plastic based on material properties.

Wash:

After sorting plastic, recycler washing material to remove dirt. Wash is very important because failure to remove dirt can damage new products and become difficult to recycle plastic.

Tearing up and changing the size:

This process comes soon after washing plastic. It is impossible to recycle plastic in a state that has been developed. There is a need to change the size of plastic material into fragments to a recyclable form.

Plastic identification and separation:

After changing the size is complete, the next process is to identify and separate plastic material. In this process, plastic particles undergo testing procedures. The reason for plastic testing is to identify classes and plastic quality. 

Merging:

Compounding is the final process in plastic recycling. This step is where recyclers change plastic particles into materials that can be reproduced by the manufacturer. Compounding involves destroying and melting plastic particles to make pellets. This process is also called extrusion.