Question by Mikey: How do recycling plants separate different types of plastics?
Better yet, how do recycling plants separate the different materials. I know that if you were to mix two different types of plastics, that they would not be able to be re-used(even though I heard of a new technology where someone was able to mix two different types of plastics to form a super strong one). How do they separate plastics 1-5 and number 7? Also, how do they separate the adhesives and other materials on recyclable products like glass and plastic bottles?
Best answer:
Answer by dooberheim
If you’re talking about a municipal Materials Recovery Facility, for example, they usually just do it by hand. Plastics are the most problematic recyclables as far as contamination – a lot of plastic loads are sent to landfills or burned because of that.
The adhesives and labels are soaked off in hot water. Glass is usually not recycled anymore as it is too expensive to transport – here they use it in building roads. Plastics, depending on the type, can tolerate some adhesive contamination as they are melted and pressed into structural materials like those plastic benches you see. Few plastics are able to be remanufactured into the same item it came from, unlike glass or aluminum.
DK
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As mentioned before most plastic has to by sorted by hand, people who do this on a regular basis can usually tell by the look and feel what type it is. You can always look on the bottom and there will be a number in the chasing arrows.
I’ve also seen how they recycle carpets which are often plastic products, they have this machine that looks like a flash light and can tell what type of material it is made of.
I don’t know where the person got the information that glass isn’t recycled, but I know for a fact that it is. Glass is one of the easiest things to recycle, it is one of the few items that doesn’t need to be downcycled. The plant I saw recently just crushes the glass and puts it into the furnace, the heat vaporizes the labels and adhesives, they then can turn it back into anything, more bottles, dishes whatever.
People working there sort things out by number id