plastic recycling

Plastic products are just shapes of plastic, and to recycle them you just have to melt them and change the shape. In a similar way you can melt square ice cubes by taking them out of the freezer turning them into water then refreezing them into round ice cubes. Same water, same ice but different shapes. The difference with plastics is we use special equipment and temperatures.

All plastics may look the same – but they are not, the appearance is deceptive. They vary like shapes and in order to recycle them you have to make sure are all the same shapes fit together.

We recycle the plastic by putting them in to the correct group. Each group can identified by a number on the bottom of the product. Each number corresponds to a type of plastic.

Plastic Identification Code	Type of plastic polymer	Properties	Common Packaging Applications
	Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)	Clarity, strength, toughness, barrier to gas and moisture.	Soft drink, water and salad dressing bottles; peanut butter and jam jars.
	High Density polyethylene (HDPE)	Stiffness, strength, toughness, resistance to moisture, permeability to gas.	Water pipes, milk, juice, and water bottles; the ocassional shampoo/toiletry bottle.
	Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)	Versatility, ease of blending, strength, toughness.	Packaging for non-food items; cling films for non-food use. Not used for food packaging as usually toxic. Non-packaging uses are electrical cable insulation; rigid piping; vinyl records.
	Low density polyethylene (LDPE)	Ease of processing, strength, toughness, flexibility, ease of sealing, barrier to moisture.	Frozen food bags; squeezable bottles, e.g. honey, mustard; cling films; flexible container lids.
	Polypropylene (PP)	Versatility, clarity, easily formed	Egg cartons; packing peanuts; disposable cups, plates, trays and disposable take-away containers.
	Polystyrene (PS)	Versatility, clarity, easily formed	Egg cartons, packing peanuts; disposable, plates, trays and cutlery; disposable take-away containers.
	Polycarbonate	Dependent on polymers or combination of polymers	Beverage bottles; baby milk bottles, compact discs; “unbreakable” glazing; electronic apparatus housings; lenses including sunglasses, prescription glasses, automotive headlamps, riot shields, instrument panels.

These are the ‘standard’ plastics, however there are over 270 other types. You will also notice the plastics have properties which are designed to match up to the application or product.

Having separated the plastics we grind them in to flake.

This makes them small enough to be stuffed into a melting machine called an extruder.

The extruder is designed to melt and mix the plastic flake together and it comes out like a long piece of spaghetti. It is then cooled and cut it into an evenly formed pellets.

The pellets are then feed into our Remarkable machines and turned into a product giving them a whole new life… An eco resurrection.