Processing Plastics For Reuse And Recycling Into New Products Or Raw Materials
Plastics are used in many different ways, and in many cases, plastic processing methods change according to the use of the material. Sorting and selecting the materials for each part of the plastic processing is crucial to ensure the materials are pure when they are ready for use.
Recycling Plastic Materials
Plastic processing starts with recycling plastics that come from products used daily. Often containers and bottles used in several different products or industries are separated and sorted to ensure all the containers use the same materials that are transported to a recycling center where they are sorted and cleaned.
The caps need to come off bottles, and the paper labels must be removed from all plastic products before they can go into the process. Once the material is ready, the processor can begin to break down the plastic and process it into several different material forms that will be reused later.
The time spent at the recycling center to sort and clean the plastic containers is critical to ensure the final raw material is pure and will work when a manufacturer uses it to create something new.
Raw Materials
Once plastic processing starts, there are several ways it can go. The plastic can be melted down and formed into blocks or blanks that are used in machines for heating and extrusion, or the plastic can be chipped into small pellets that are easier to melt down and work with later.
The plastic processing plant will often offer both products in many different plastic types, allowing the customer to select the one they need for their process. In some cases, the customer may want several different colors of the same material or several materials to blend into a final plastic product that is a better fit for their final product.
The plastic processing plant can provide those products individually so that manufacturers can create the material blend they require, in their own facility. Some blended plastics are harder to process for recycling later, but the materials created in the final manufacturing step are used to make durable items that are not intended for short-term use and may never need recycling.
Other manufacturers may take the material and remold it into the same types of bottles and containers that it started when the plastic processing facility got it from the recycler. Because there are so many plastics in use today, the processing is not always the same, but the final result is a new raw material that can be reused in the manufacturing industry that will create cheaper plastics and reduce the amount of material in landfills and other places it should not be.
For more information about plastic processing solutions, contact a local company.