Your Questions About Recycling

The Expert answers:

There are two types of plastics; Thermoplastic plastics, and thermoset plastics.

Thermoplastics are recyclable to a limited extent. The long chains that give the plastic it’s desirable properties tend to bind or break every time the plastic is recycled, so it can only be recycled for the same use to a limited extent.

Thermosets, and recycled thermoplastics can be somewhat reduced by solvents, but the solvents themselves are usually harmful to the environment. The resulting gels from these solvents are not always useful either.

In the facility where I work, we manufacture Polyurethane, a thermoset plastic, as part of a total production process. The scrap polyurethane is disposed of at cement factories where it is burned to turn limestone components into cement. I believe there is some work in ultrasonics to try to better recycle these materials, but it currently takes much more energy to reduce these plastics to their base components than it takes to simply make new plastics. I am sure that eventually it will be cheaper to recycle.

The Expert answers:

They recycle by the grade of the plastic. All your water and soda bottles are a #1 plastic (look on the bottom of container and there is a # 1-7 inside a triangle. Most places will not pay you for your milk jugs. Bring all materials to recycler and he/she will help you. Once or twice and you’ll be a pro!! Oh, you dont have to remove labels or caps.

The Expert answers:

Reduce>Reuse>Recycle

Reduce: Some store managers will allow you to bring in your own beverage container of the appropriate size. In fact, they have in the past given out refillable commemorative cups.

Reuse: I use the large cups to start tomato and other plants. Poke out a few holes along the bottom of the cup and you have a planter. Set the cup in a tuna can or yogurt container to catch the water that drains from the cup. The clear domed lids on fraps make cups into excellent little green houses.

Recycle: After you plan, rinse the plastic off in a bucket of water destine to be used for the garden. Sort the clean plastic and metal cans to the appropriate recycle bin.

The Expert answers:

Plastic bags will last for hundreds of years if they are buried in landfills in fairly anaerobic conditions. If left out in full sun, they’ll actually break down in a matter of weeks.

However, what they break down into isn’t necessarily an improvement. At least in anaerobic conditions, we know exactly where the bags are. Sigh.

The best solution is not to use plastic bags at all, of course. Next best solution is to find a way to re-use them, either as-is (for example, shredded finely and used as fluffy insulation in clothing & bedding), or re-worked into something else (ex: heated & blended, and made into flexible roadside reflector-posts on fast roads — they do that in Australia).

I saw a short documentary on this a while ago. The cleverest idea, I thought, was developed by a guy who saw that different types of plastics can be re-worked to make materials with specific characteristics, but that most haven’t got enough desirable characteristics to be re-made into anything that’s actually useful.

So he worked with two second-use plastics: one had flexibility, but stretched out too much — that is, it would bend or twist, but it would get thinner and weaker all the while. The other plastic had virtually no flexibility, in fact it was as stiff and immovable as stone — it was also very strong overall, but broke easily under localized stress (stress on one or two points). Unfortunately, there was no way to blend these two plastics to come up with a product that had the best features of both materials.

Eventually, though, this guy worked out a system of *physically* blending the plastics, instead of chemically. He came up with a way of making interlocking units of the two plastics that, once they were all locked in place, couldn’t be pulled apart — and the resulting composite had the best of both worlds. The system works so well that he’s demonstrated structural components for buildings made with it, and even bridge girders that will handle tank traffic.

It’s just too bad that we’ve recognized the need to keep waste plastics from cluttering up the world *before* we developed useful things to actually use these plastics *for.* Better late than never, I suppose.

I suppose the “good” news (?!) is that we still have *hundreds of years* in which to continue exercising our ingenuity. 😀

The Expert answers:

Many supermarkets have recycle bins where you can put the used plastic grocery bags. A little known fact: you can also put the plastic rings from six-packs in these recycle bins! Most places that recycle the plastic bags will reuse the six-pack rings as well!

The Expert answers:

Call your local recycling program or municipality and ask about these bags. Most plastic bags are recyclable although they may not have the recycling symbol.
Also, don’t forget that rather than recycling, you can reduce and reuse. This is the most important thing in the concept of recycling. I know you said that they are not in the condition to be reused (as bags?) but maybe try this link. It has 61 uses for plastic bags. 🙂
http://www.truckerphoto.com/wallyworldbag.htm

Think green ? Purple!!!

The Expert answers:

The common process that is used in recycling plastic is the inverse polymerization process where the polymers in the plastic are converted into initial monomers that were used in the manufacture. These chemicals are then purified and synthesized to form new plastic materials. Assorted polymers are converted into petroleum in another recycling process. The advantage of this process is that any mix of polymers can be used. A new recycling process generates heat from the friction of plastic materials which melts the plastics. This is then pumped into casting moulds. The great advantage of this technique is that all types of plastics can be recycled.

The Expert answers:

London Borough of Bromley gives us a bin with two sections, one side for plastic drinks and detergent bottles and the other side for tins and glass jars. When the dustmen empty these recycling bins, they tip the whole lot back in together.

Bromley was given a very large government award last year for good waste recycling percentage results (30%) which they ploughed back into the site and they’re testing sorting machines with a view to buying one for £100K.

They send us news letters telling us where all the recycled waste is sent for processing. Our plastics are sent to a local plant and used for household products.

If we fail to recycle in this way, they will charge us for our collections. They collect once a fortnight on the same day as the general waste which is taken weekly but there’s now less of that of course.

I get the impression they’re working towards a fortnightly collection in the future.

The Expert answers:

When you take paper, plastics, metals, glass, and other recyclables, you place them into recycle bins. These bins are then emptied into collection bins, like those that you or your building places into a street or alley. A recycling truck, almost identical to a garbage truck will collect these recyclables and ship them to a recycling facility.

There, depending on how your area recycles, the recyclables are dumped out and sorted, sometimes by hand, usually by machine. A huge magnet picks up any metals, where they are sorted again. They are melted and remolded to make new cans, or other metal products. Paper is sifted out after going through a wall of many vertical ‘discs’, and is blended into pulp, and remolded once again into paper or cardboard. Newspaper, cardboard, and plastics are also recycled the same. Glass bottles are smashed and ground into sand, and reheated and remolded again into new bottles.

Depending on the facility near you, the recycling plant may do this here, or in a foreign nation like China. The recycled materials, may be sold to a company, like Coca-Cola.