What Exactly Happens To A Recycled Plastic Bottle?

The first thing you can do to assist the environment is to put any unneeded plastics in the recycling bin at the bottle recycling depot in Calgary and your nearby area. It is a simple yet effective step. But have you previously given any attention to what happens to your recycled plastics once they have been recycled? A beverage bottle is an ordinary object made of plastic recycled at a bottle depot in Calgary, SW, and elsewhere; this article will describe what happens with it and how the process works in the following paragraphs.

The Travels Of A Plastic Bottle During Recycling

Bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET #1) and polyethylene (PE #2) are often used to pack beverages such as water, milk, juice, and sports drinks. Other common beverages include. Most individuals in the United States can recycle plastic bottles at the bottle depot in Calgary and your adjoining locations with relative ease. As a precaution! If you plan to recycle such bottles, I would appreciate it if you would make sure to put the lids back on. One type of plastic desired by recyclers is the sort used to produce caps (more below).

1. Shatter and bundle it up

Old plastic bottles are collected, sorted, and then compressed into bundles that might also weigh as much as 1,200 pounds and carry more than 7,200 bottles. It makes transporting the bottles more cost-effective. Such pre-sorted pallets are transported to a location where a machine known as a “bale breaker” is used to disassemble them into individual pieces. Afterward, a magnet is used to extract any metal shards that could have inadvertently accompanied us on our journey.

2. Scrub-a-dub

Something that resembles an enormous version of your home washing machine is used to clean the bottles. Soap and water are used to eliminate labeling, filth, and debris. A friendly reminder is best to empty your bottles at home since doing so makes recycling far more efficient.

3. Reduce, chopper!

Because polypropylene (PP, #5) plastic is widely used in the manufacturing of bottle caps, it should segregate different types of plastic. There is no need to be concerned since there is a far more efficient method than making rows of workers constantly detach bottle tops. For example, the PET bottles and associated caps are shattered into tiny pieces before being placed in a massive tank of water. Because PET and polypropylene have different densities, the flakes of the bottle sink in the water while the shards of the cap float. It allows the two materials to be separated for recycling purposes at the bottle depot in Calgary and to a different place you live.

4. Stickier spaghetti

Do you still possess the “spaghetti” press you made with soft clay when you were a kid? It’s like the next phase in the recycling process, which is when the plastic flakes are heated up, and “extruded” form long cylindrical strands. In a sense, it’s the same thing. After being cooled and hardened in water, the strands are shipped to enterprises that make various new items from recycled plastic. They are distributed after being diced into pellets about the length of split peas.

5. New and interesting items

What is some non-traditional use for the plastic bottles you use regularly? We might recycle them into durable playground equipment, decking for the garden, carpeting, or new bottles, among other things. Additionally, your caps may be hard-cooking bowls, cutting boards, toothbrush holders, vehicle battery containers, or storage boxes.

6. Eco-fashion

Have you heard that you may turn recyclable PET bottles from everyday items into a cloth that is soft and comfortable and can be used for clothing or soft furnishings? If this is the objective, recyclable pellets subjected to heat will spin into a delicately thin thread (fiber). You will be amazed at the variety of textiles manufactured from this thread, and you will wonder whether they were made from an old plastic sports drink bottle.

Conclusion

Plastics that have been recycled at a bottle depot in Calgary and elsewhere you live are in more demand than ever before; thus, you shouldn’t stop collecting those! In 2014, almost 6 billion pounds of recyclable plastic were collected and processed in the United States. You may make a difference for the ecosystem by recycling at bottle return depots in Calgary and worldwide as frequently as possible and encouraging your family members to do the same.

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