This is because the recyclable materials in any municipal waste stream vary depending on what’s being thrown away at any given time, and hence are typically a blend of similar plastics. The recycled plastic may not have the same strength as the equivalent virgin plastic material, and the strength will vary from batch to batch. Aesthetically, the recycled version will probably not look good enough to be used on the exterior of a product, so it’s typically placed out of view, like behind a car bumper or sandwiched between two pieces of metal. ![]() In reality, there is a lot of sorting and chopping involved to make the plastic pieces small enough to flow in a mixer, and there are chemical additives used as binders or flow enablers to enhance the properties of the resulting material.Įven after all of that, a recycler can’t be sure the recycled plastics will be useful to potential customers seeking to turn the plastics into new products. You may think that plastics, for instance, arrive at a recycling center ready to be melted down and formed into new raw materials, which can then be used to make new plastic components. Recycling is an obvious solution, but most of us have a naïve understanding of recycling. ![]() That’s the equivalent of setting five garbage bags full of trash on every foot of coastline around the world.” 1 According to National Geographic, “Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations. Plastics are everywhere, including places we would rather not see them - like our oceans.
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