Optimising the lifespan of plastics by re-using and recycling items as many times as possible, for example, by recycling used plastic bottles into new ones, we can therefore reduce our need to create new plastic. There are many different types of plastic in use, some of which we can recycle in the UK and other types — including that used to make flexible pouches — which will require new technology before we are able to recycle it effectively.
This means that some plastic still goes to landfill, some is incinerated and some shipped abroad for recycling. There are currently large investments being made in Britain to help our domestic plastic recycling sector cope with the variety of plastics in use and it won't be long before we operate a more efficient recycling system for all different types of plastic packaging. In the meantime we can all do our bit to improve things now. Recycling plastic bottles is one easy way to help.
They are usually made from two easily recyclable plastics — PET and HDPE — and can be recycled by most of us via our household recycling collections or local recycling centres. You may notice symbols on plastic packaging explaining the type of plastic they're made of and how to recycle them. Read Packaging symbols explained for more information. You may have seen an increase in businesses moving to different types of plastic packaging, but knowing your bio-plastics from your biodegradable plastics can be very confusing.
Plastic can be made from fossil-based or bio-based materials. Both can be used to make highly durable, non-biogradable plastics, or plastics which either biodegrade or compost. Fact: Just because a plastic is made from bio-based sources, does not automatically mean it will biodegrade! The "next grand challenge" for polymer chemistry — the field responsible for the creation of plastics — is learning to undo the process by turning plastics back into oil.
This process — known as chemical recycling — has been explored as a viable alternative to conventional recycling for decades. So far, the stumbling block has been the large amount of energy it requires. This, combined with the volatile price of crude oil sometimes makes it cheaper to produce new plastic products than to recycle existing plastic.
Some plastics that could be recycled end up in landfill because of poor facilities, or confusion about what is and isn't recyclable Credit: Alamy. Every year, more than million tonnes of plastic is produced worldwide. That's about the same as 2,, blue whales — more than times the weight of the entire blue whale population.
Much of the plastic that could be recycled — such as polyethylene terephthalate PET , which is used for bottles and other packaging — ends up in landfill. This is often due to confusion about kerbside recycling or contamination with food or other types of waste. Other plastics — such as salad bags and other food containers — find their way to landfill because they are made up of a combination of different plastics that can't be easily split apart in a recycling plant.
Litter dropped in the street and lightweight plastics left in landfill sites or illegally dumped can be carried by the wind or washed into rivers by the rain , ending up in the ocean. Chemical recycling is an attempt to recycle the unrecyclable. Instead of a system where some plastics are rejected because they are the wrong colour or made of composites, chemical recycling could see all types of plastic fed into an "infinite" recycling system that unmake plastics back into oil, so they can then be used to make plastic again.
The way plastic is currently recycled is more of a downward spiral than an infinite loop. Plastics are usually recycled mechanically: they are sorted, cleaned, shredded, melted and remoulded. Each time plastic is recycled this way, its quality is degraded. When the plastic is melted, the polymer chains are partially broken down , decreasing its tensile strength and viscosity, making it harder to process. The new, lower grade plastic often becomes unsuitable for use in food packaging and most plastic can be recycled a very limited number of times before it is so degraded it becomes unusable.
The emerging industry of chemical recycling aims to avoid this problem by breaking plastic down into its chemical building blocks, which can then be used for fuels or to reincarnate new plastics. The most versatile version of chemical recycling is " feedstock recycling ". Also known as thermal conversion, feedstock recycling is any process that breaks polymers down into simpler molecules using heat.
The process is fairly simple — take a plastic drinks bottle. You put it out with your recycling for collection. It is taken, along with all the other waste, to a sorting facility. There, the rubbish is sorted, either mechanically or by hand, into different kinds of materials and different kinds of plastics. Your bottle is washed, shredded and packed into a bale ready for transportation to the recycling centre — so far, the same as the conventional process.
Then comes the chemical recycling: the plastic that formerly made up your bottle could be taken to a pyrolysis centre where it is melted down. Next it is fed into the pyrolysis reactor where it is heated to extreme temperatures. This process turns the plastic into a gas which is then cooled to condense into an oil-like liquid , and finally distilled into fractions that can be put to different purposes.
Chemical recycling begins the same way as ordinary mechanical recycling, with collecting and crushing plastics and taking them to a plant Credit: Alamy. Chemical recycling techniques are being trialled across the world.
UK-based Recycling Technologies has developed a pyrolysis machine that turns hard-to-recycle plastic such as films, bags and laminated plastics into Plaxx. Americans recycled 2. Keep it up! See below for a tip on learning which containers to recycle. Tip 3: Recyclers want your plastic bottle caps and container lids. Twist on the bottle caps before tossing them in the bin to make it easier for recyclers.
Bottle caps typically are made from polypropylene plastic —it can be recycled into auto parts, bike racks, storage bins, shipping pallets, and more. Tip 4: Did you know more than 18, grocery and retail stores collect plastic grocery bags for recycling? Plus bags for dry-cleaning, bread, produce, newspapers—and even zipper bags. And plastic wraps from products such as water bottles, diapers, napkins, and more. Tip 5: There probably are recyclable plastics in your bathroom bottles and containers for shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap, body wash, mouthwash , laundry area detergent and cleaning products , and garage auto and gardening products.
Placing small receptacles in various rooms can make it easier to recycle everything you can.
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