Recycling plastic products requires less energy than manufacturing new plastics and as such is perhaps the best solution in combating plastic waste in the environment. As plastic waste is a main cause for severe water and soil pollution, recycling is an efficient and beneficial resource to decrease plastic waste in the environment. The plastic recycling process involves breaking down the waste and scrap plastics to recover useful materials – after numerous chemical structures and resins in the plastic are melted, new fibres can be created.
People may not give a second thought about what happens to the plastic they recycle and do not realise many household items, used daily, are made from these recycled materials. Examples of plastic items we could use daily: Some handles of fridges and grips of cooking pans are mainly plastic The buttons on your clothes and some clothing (polyester) are made out of PET plastic Telephones and mobiles and many more items…
Harmful effects of plastic in the environment: Plastic bags do not look good littered throughout the environment. Some plastics are not biodegradable. Plastic materials can cause animals harm, from choking and ingestion.
Benefits of recycling plastic to environment: Landfills can be recovered: One of the biggest problems being faced today is the fact that there are fewer places to dump plastic waste (landfills) due to them being almost full. An effective solution for this is to go for recycling. Leads to oil conservation: Compared to making new, original plastic, plastic recycling helps in saving 4 barrels of oil.
The following is an instance of the process of recycling involving plastic milk jugs. The jugs are removed from other plastics first, and then cleaned and ground down. The next step is to melt all the pieces down and once this is done, the pieces are guided through an extruder to produce rectangular shapes. The consistency of the recycled plastic when it is coming out of the extruder is somewhat reminiscent of play dough. This new plastic material is sent through jets of water to keep it cool and stop it rising like bread dough. This step is repeated after being air-dried for a time, to make sure the plastic is okay for the next stage. This plastic lumber can now be processed into various objects.
Though this process has many advantages, it is a complex procedure. Types and colours of plastics are required to be sorted appropriately, which can be monotonous for workers and as the material is not worth as much as brand new, it is less profitable also. People should still be educated to recycle plastics despite these negatives as the positives far outweigh them.
If you found this article about plastic recycling useful, you may be interested in Max Marston’s other article about paper recycling found here – http://remade.info/2010/07/16/recycling-isnt-just-for-glass-and-plastic-recycle-paper-too/
Visit http://www.wastecare.co.uk/ for all your waste management needs, including paper, plastic and metal recycling
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