Truth about Plastic Recycling | Bottles for Change

USED PLASTIC IS NOT WASTE, IT IS RECYCLABLE.

Plastic is a miraculous material that human beings have invented from petroleum derivatives. There are myths around plastic being bad and causing negative impact on the environment by getting into rivers, oceans and dumping grounds. However, in reality plastic is not a problem.

The problem is of irresponsible human behavior in disposing the plastic. If disposed sensibly, it can actually do well to the environment. If recycled, plastic can be made to form recycled polyester which in turn is made to produce a number of things like shoes, T-shirts, bags, chairs etc. thereby causing less strain on natural resources.

Plastic Industry in India employs 4 million people & is worth INR 110,000 Cr

Plastic is very resistant to moisture

Plastic is fully recyclable & sustainable, It can be recycled several times

Recycling 1 plastic bottle saves 60 Wh of energy

Plastic is world’s packaging choice for many foods and beverages

Plastic is very economical in comparison to glass, aluminum and other container materials.

Plastic reduces carbon footprint

India consumes 13 million tons of plastic per year. Only 78% is recycled.

PLASTIC HAS AN AFTERLIFE

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN DISPOSE & RECYCLE PLASTIC RESPONSIBLY!

In the current scenario 78% of plastic is being recycled. Rest 22% of plastic majorly contains plastic items like Wrappers, plastic bags, milk pouches, multilayer chips packets etc are not picked up for recycling only because they are light weight, dirty/filthy. These plastic lie in the dump yards and cause havoc, Very few people know that any and every type of plastic can be recycled several times.

The plastic recycling process refers to the process of re-using the clean plastic by processing it and turning it into a new item altogether. The process includes cleaning of the plastic, cutting it into flakes and then melting it at high temperature for molding it into desirable use.

Let’s know the process in details:

Step 1

Collection

All the collected waste (Dry and Wet) reaches the housekeeping staff from different stakeholders like housing societies, schools colleges, corporates, hotels etc. This waste has unclean plastic mixed with it. The house keeping segregates the clean plastic and sells it to the kabadiwala. The rest of the plastic which are mixed with wet waste, and takes time and energy to be cleaned are left aside, which goes to the garbage collection trucks eventually landing up in dumping ground.

Step 2

Sorting

When the collected plastic reaches the kabadiwala, he sorts the plastic according to its types for sending it to the recycler. Even during this process, the plastic which seems unclean to him is sorted and goes to the waste.

Step 3

Cleaning and Shredding/Flaking

After the plastic reaches to the recycler all the plastic is sorted again, cleaned with large amount of water and then shredded into small pieces. The shredder then converts the plastic into flakes. Once that is done, the flakes are then subjected to further washing, drying and are ready to be shipped to the manufacturing units for making several kinds of recycled products.