The reuse of waste materials has become an issue of growing importance to both individuals and businesses. While can crushers are well known examples of commercial recycling equipment that everyone is familiar with, there are many other types for today’s recycling centers. These industrial sized machines will often be capable of handling and holding a far greater amount of material for processing than in the past.
Before any processing of waste materials can occur the waste must be sorted into material types. This is very frequently done by hand at small collection centers. Public participation in these initiatives is usually good but the average homeowner and business may not sort the materials completely and the material types are usually re-verified at the collection centers.
Small centers may do the initial collection and sorting entirely by hand and although labor intensive it may be more practical. When plastics are the materials collected to recycle then sorting is especially critical because the types of polymers used in different plastics are not always compatible with each other. Once the waste plastic is sorted it is washed thoroughly.
Whether the plastics are washed by hand or by a machine specifically for that purpose they will need to be compressed or processed further in preparation for transport. There are numerous machines available for the small center to further process or compact the plastic for transport. Methods such as a gentle re-heating and then cutting the material into smaller pieces might be used to compact the material.
The success of each step of this process in particular the final processing so that the homogenized plastic types can be reused depends upon the sorting process. Smaller collection centers will usually only process the plastic to a transportable stage and the final processing will be left to the manufacturer who buys the recycled material.
Usually processing beyond the simple heating and subsequent cutting to form a compact mass is required for re-purposed plastics. The plastics produced by the small centers will often be reheated until the appropriate plastic behaviours are displayed. More materials may be added and then the resulting material can be shaped into its new form and begin a new life.
The results of this multi-step labor intensive effort can be plastic piping, signs, garbage bags or even storage containers. Government, businesses and the average citizen have joined in the efforts to reduce waste and to re-purpose materials such as plastic. Reusing these polymers is important because most plastics are made from petroleum by products which is an increasingly limited resource. A growing concern about non-biodegradable waste products in landfills has also helped fuel these recycling initiatives.
The average resident may divide their waste into metal, biodegradable and plastics for collection. However the commercial enterprise specializing in giving these waste materials new life will often have multiple types of commercial recycling equipment on premise. The machines used to reduce the collected materials to as usable and compact form as possible before transport are often found at the collection center. The manufacturer assumes responsibility for the final processing stages and it can be economically viable for everyone if the proper equipment is available and the sorting and re-purposing stages are conducted appropriately.
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