RECYCLING: PLASTICS

Recycling is processing used material (waste) into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials this then reduces the need for virgin raw materials, reduces energy usage, reduces air pollution (from incineration) , reduces water pollution (from land filling) by reducing the need for conventional waste disposal and lower greenhouse gas emissions – compared to virgin production.

Recycling is a key component of modern waste reduction the other components are Reduce and Reuse. Recycling generally means reproducing the same type of products where as reuse means breaking something down into parts and producing a different material or product.

Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastic and reprocessing the material into other plastic products. Recycling process before recycling most plastics are sorted according to their resin type. The plastic recyclables ate them shredded. These shredded fragments then undergo cleaning processes to eliminate impurities. The material is then melted and either extruded in sheet, flake or pellet form.

Post consumer polyethylene terephthalate (PET) containers are sorted into colours and baled for onward sale. PET recyclers further sort the baled bottles and they are washed and flaked. The clean flake is dried. Further treatment can take place e.g. filtering and palletising or various treatments to produce food contact approved recycled PET (rPET). A common use for rPET is containers - food or non food contact produced by injection moulding or thermoforming sheet rPET to produce a range of plastic trays or hinge packs.

The bulk of plastic cutlery, available now in the UK, comes from overseas – mainly the Far East. The environmental impact / carbon footprint of importing these products is considerable. In response to current trends for environmental products i.e. products which inflict minimal / no harm to the environment  it is now possible to get quality plastic cutlery in the UK, manufactured in the UK using rPET and recycled HIPS.
Packaging manufacturers have a responsibility to regularly review their products and processes - minimising waste and maximising production output. By recycling post manufacture thermoform plastic waste it has been possible to create a premium quality / strong cutlery range made from post production waste.

The use of Biodegradable plastics is increasing but it can cause problems as the reclaimed biodegradable plastic is not recyclable because of the variance in properties and melt temperatures. Biodegradable and compostable packaging currently requires a lot of energy to produce and recovery can be expensive and have little worth, whereas recycled materials can be recovered and reused again and again.