5 Stages of Plastic Recycling Process

1. 5 Stages of Plastic Recycling Process

2. Plastic is really hazardous as it’s not disposable and degradable. Most companies manufacturing plastic bags aim at adopting environmentally friendly recyclable plastic bags. Thanks to the growing attention of legal officials and government intervention, most companies in the USA are trying to adapt to the bio degradable laminated bags. This is still in its infancy though; companies like Plastic Bag Source are doing it marvelously. Plastic recycling is a term coined from the process of turning waste plastic to a usable product and then re-enter the same product in the manufacturing value chain. There are 5 important stages of plastic recycling. Let’s understand them below:

3. Plastic Identification Not every plastic bag or plastic product can be recycled. Once the plastic arrives at the recycling plant, the company engineers inspect the plastic type as recycling plastic is a convoluted practice. Mixed plastic or poor quality plastic or drawstring bags can’t be recycled. Engineers at the plant sort out the plastic bags and plastic products before taking them into consideration for a possible recycling.

4. Washing the impurities After the engineers identify the type of plastic and considers it worthy for a recycling, it is separated and taken into the next level, where it is cleaned. The washing process starts with removing the labels on plastic products, laminated bags or any other labeled product of plastic. Once the labels are removed the other impurities and adhesives are removed. Until and unless these impurities are removed the quality of recycled plastic wouldn’t improve

5. Tearing of the plastic In the third stage, the waste plastic is loaded onto the conveyor belt that takes the plastic bags directly towards rotating metal teeth that tears the plastic into small pieces. The same plastic pieces are bagged up and passed through a stringent quality check.

6. Re-identification of the plastic grades Once the shredded plastic is passed through a stringent quality and chemical test, the plastic pieces are labeled differently as per the quality of plastics and its grade. Certain Grade plastics extracted from drawstring bags or plastic products are blended with virgin plastic and taken to the next level of recycling.

7. Extruding The last stage of the recycling process involves melting the clean plastic pieces and extruding into the form of pellets. These pallets are then sent to the manufacturing unit, where they are manufactured with the next lot of plastics. The next lot of plastic is then converted into wonderful plastic products we use in our daily lives.

8. Summing it all up, recycling plastic is beneficial in many ways. The landfills that pollute the environment with tons of unused plastic will start emptying. Moreover, as plastic is derived from oil, which is a non-renewable natural resource, it is advisable to reuse it as much as possible. Recycled laminated bags and other forms of plastic bags are also equally popular among the consumers as carrying reusable products also let them feel proud about the contribution that they make in reducing the global warming.