Interesting question. Recycling of plastics means developing a soft reusable product which can later be developed into other useful products. UK used as much as five million tons of which 29% is recycled. Some of the most popular recycled plastics are PEP , PP, HDPE , PP etc . Microirrigation is one such monumental application of recycled plastics ...
Interesting question. Recycling of plastics means developing a soft reusable product which can later be developed into other useful products. UK used as much as five million tons of which 29% is recycled. Some of the most popular recycled plastics are PEP , PP, HDPE , PP etc . Microirrigation is one such monumental application of recycled plastics ...
Waste is selectively collected by households. The plastic goes to a local collection station, compacted and a larger truck delivers it to the main collection point (usually close to a landfill, also could be close to the incineration plant). The preselected plastic waste is ground at the main collection point. There are available fast speed machinery to separate the plastics by density or color. Because the plastic pile density is low, the plastics are baled to improve the density for the transportation and avoiding littering on the road. At the incineration location, the bales are opened, the plastic screened and a feeder forward it to the boiler.
Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities (Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2009 Jul 27; 364(1526): 2115–2126. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0311)
Abstract : Plastics are inexpensive, lightweight and durable materials, which can readily be moulded into a variety of products that find use in a wide range of applications. As a consequence, the production of plastics has increased markedly over the last 60 years. However, current levels of their usage and disposal generate several environmental problems. Around 4 per cent of world oil and gas production, a non-renewable resource, is used as feedstock for plastics and a further 3–4% is expended to provide energy for their manufacture. A major portion of plastic produced each year is used to make disposable items of packaging or other short-lived products that are discarded within a year of manufacture. These two observations alone indicate that our current use of plastics is not sustainable. In addition, because of the durability of the polymers involved, substantial quantities of discarded end-of-life plastics are accumulating as debris in landfills and in natural habitats worldwide.
Recycling is one of the most important actions currently available to reduce these impacts and represents one of the most dynamic areas in the plastics industry today. Recycling provides opportunities to reduce oil usage, carbon dioxide emissions and the quantities of waste requiring disposal. Here, we briefly set recycling into context against other waste-reduction strategies, namely reduction in material use through downgauging or product reuse, the use of alternative biodegradable materials and energy recovery as fuel.
While plastics have been recycled since the 1970s, the quantities that are recycled vary geographically, according to plastic type and application. Recycling of packaging materials has seen rapid expansion over the last decades in a number of countries. Advances in technologies and systems for the collection, sorting and reprocessing of recyclable plastics are creating new opportunities for recycling, and with the combined actions of the public, industry and governments it may be possible to divert the majority of plastic waste from landfills to recycling over the next decades.
Plastic wastes, mainly domestic plastic waste, is collected from the individual house holds by the agencies identified by the Government on a regular basis. All the house owners are directed to sort out plastic and non plastic items separately. These plastic wastes are later carried to the re-cycling plant. Here the plastic waste will be shredded, cleaned and melted to make plastic pellets, which will be supplied back to the industry for secondary manufacturing.
The most important step before reusing of wasted plastics is proper segregation. Higher the segregation efficency, higher will be the quality of its by product. Even a single PET bottle after use, has to be segregated properly before its reuse. A bottle contains 3 types of plastics which includes the bottle, its cap and its label. There are a variety of uses to which waste plastics can be put into for reuse. The least preferred use should be incineration