How is plastic recycled?
Plastic recycling takes care of only two percent of all the plastic used every year. Even with plastic recycling factories in place all over the world, the impact of recycling is not as big as environmental agencies would like it to be. Because more and more plastics make their way into our life everyday, the importance of plastic recycling is even more urgent. Plastic is now used in everything from credit cards to food wraps. There are seven types of plastic that can be recycled, which adds to the complication. Some plastics can only be recycled in certain plants, while others are more easily reused. Plastic recycling can mean anything from melting down the plastic to obtain polymer (fibers) to cutting parts to turn them into different objects. The seven groups in which plastic can be divided include: • Group 1: beverage/soda bottles, mouthwash containers • Group 2: milk jugs, detergent/shampoo/cleaner bottles • Group 3: cooking oil bottles • Group 4: grocery and produce bags, food wr
In the United States 75 billion pounds of plastic are produced every year, unfortunately the majority of this plastic ends up in landfills. When plastic is dumped into landfills the decomposition process can take anywhere from 10 to 30 years. Recycling has therefore become a reasonable solution to the landfill problem. There are five factors that are necessary in order for the recycling of plastic to be a successful process. First, the supply of used plastic has to be of a large quantity. This large quantity of plastic is collected at certain areas, which is the second step. Once the plastic is collected, the sorting and separating process begins; this is the third step in the process. The sorting and separating process depends upon the type of polymers that make up the plastic. Plastic products are given codes to help the sorting and separating process. The fourth step in plastic recycling is reprocessing. The reprocessing of polymers includes the melting process, the melting process
