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5 Stages of the Plastic Recycling Process

Plastic recycling, a term given for processing waste plastic, turning old or scrap plastic into  useable products that can re-enter the manufacturing chain. In order for plastic to be suitable for re use in the manufacturing environments, for example injection molding, company waste or scrap plastic must go through several recycling processes.

Stage 1: Sorting the plastic

To have success with this stage, it is very important for the consumer to learn the correct disposal procedures for their trash, and do all pre-sorting necessary. For example, you can take out the corks of bottles, caps or lids, making it easier for machinery to sort waste. Plastic waste needs to be collected by the recycling company, once the plastic arrives at the recycling plant the first stage begins to sort the plastic into the specific types.  Plastic recycling is more complex than metal or glass recycling because of the many different types of plastic that exists.  In addition, mixed plastic cannot be used in manufacturing without delivering a poor quality product, therefore reasons why plastic recycling companies need to be thorough with its sorting methods, sorting plastic waste into different categories before going to the next stage in the recycling process.

Stage 2: Washing Waste Plastic

Once plastic waste has been identified and separated into one of its many forms the cleaning process can begin, this usually starts with washing to remove paper labels, adhesives and other impurities, all the labels on your plastic containers, bottles and even your wheelie bin need to be completely removed as these will lower the quality of the finished recycled plastic.

Stage 3: Shredding the Plastic

The shredding stage is when plastic waste is taken and loaded onto conveyor belts or directly into huge hoppers that funnel the clean scrap towards rotating metal teeth that rip the plastic into small pellets which are bagged up afterwards ready for testing.

Stage 4: Identify and classify the Plastic.

Once the shredded plastic has been bagged it is then chemically tested and labelled as to its exact specification, this rGrade of plastic can be used to add to a mix of virgin plastic in the manufacturing run, alternatively the rGrade plastic can be further recycled.

Stage 5: Extruding

This is the final stage in the recycling process of plastic.  This process involves melting clean shredded plastic and extruding into the form of pellets which then go onto manufacturing the next lot of plastic products.

Reasons to Recycle Plastic

Millions of tons of plastic waste end up in landfill when the vast majority of it can be recycled, it’s all too easy for us to throw away trash without a second thought but we need to take care of our planet and not just reduce the amount of trash we bury, but also given that plastic is derived from oil a natural product with ever depleting resources, it makes sense to recycling as much as possible. Recycled products are becoming more popular and important and are growing every day, as oil exploration moves to ever more hostile and difficult to reach locations, which will of course will result in prices of products made from oil to increase.

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Global Warming…Truth or Fiction ?

Most climate scientists agree that global warming is caused by human activity, according to a new survey of published papers on climate science.

“Our findings prove that there is a strong scientific agreement about the cause of climate change, despite public perceptions to the contrary,” said John Cook, the survey’s lead author, in a statement.

A team of Australian and North American scholars examined around 12,000 scientific articles written by some 29,000 climate scientists between 1991 and 2011. Climate scientists agreed that humans cause global warming in 97 percent of the published articles that discuss the issue.

“There is a gaping chasm between the actual consensus and the public perception,” Cook said in a statement accompanying the study’s release. “It’s staggering given the evidence for consensus that less than half of the general public think scientists agree that humans are causing global warming. This is significant because when people understand that scientists agree on global warming, they’re more likely to support policies that take action on it.”

Given the impressive consensus among scientists who study the subject for a living, it is perhaps surprising that the public at large is less certain.

A recent survey by Pew Research found that 69 percent of Americans believe the earth is warming, but only 42 percent believe human activity is largely the reason.

More surprisingly, only 45 percent of Americans said they believed there was scientific consensus, with 43 percent believing science has yet to come to a clear conclusion on what causes global warming.

If climate scientists seem to agree on global warming, why doesn’t everybody else? We cannot continue like this, without thinking about environment in the upcoming years, so act now.

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Green Travel and Changes in the Hotel Industry

We all should be aware Sustainability, the impact it has and steps we can take to make everyone more “Sustainable”.  Sam Marquit brings to light issues that the travel, tourism and hotel industries face with regards to sustainability.   The organizations that are taking steps for us to enjoy our vacations and support companies who truly care.

Green Travel and Changes in the Hotel Industry

Tourism and hotels can be one of the most wasteful parts of consumer culture. From throwaway shampoo bottles to room keys, hotels are typically designed to produce waste. Recognizing this issue, many tourism agencies and hotels have created accommodations that are focused on environmentally friendly living. These hotels are noteworthy for their commitment to the environment and sustainable business practices.

One of the biggest awards for eco-friendly tourism is the Wild Asia Responsible Tourism Award. This is given out for several categories to accommodations that promote sustainable dwellings. Companies can be recognized for community engagement, resource efficiency and wildlife conservation. There are also awards available for Asian-based accommodations that promote environmental protection and cultural preservation.

In recent years, it has become increasingly easier to find eco-friendly hotels while on vacation. Las Vegas, New York City and Charlotte all boast of eco-friendly hotels and design concepts. In Las Vegas, the Palazzo Resort was recently given the designation of Most Eco-Friendly Hotel in America. They achieved this with their water recycling systems, solar panels for heating and even having the ability to reuse its own waste.

Other hotels can follow the Palazzo’s lead by switching to green key cards. These unique cards are made entirely from a by-product of corn. They are biodegradable and environmentally friendly. In most hotels, key cards are thrown away as soon as they are used. In a typical hotel, every 100 rooms will use 10,000 keycards every year. This results in 50 pounds of trash that has to be thrown into a landfill each year. If just the Marriot hotel chain switched to green key cards, 66 tons of garbage would not need to be thrown into a landfill annually.

There is only so much space and air that can be polluted by trash and carbon dioxide. To prevent the degradation of the environment, individuals and hotel owners should think about environmentally friendly choices for vacations. With over 40,000,000 tourists, it is encouraging to see green Las Vegas hotels continue to be built. It is important for other cities and organizations to mimic this blueprint.

Author : Sam Marquit

 

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The Truth about Plastic Bags

Everyone should be know the facts about plastic bags.  Here is a great info graphic created by BagTheBan (http://www.bagtheban.com/).  It’s important that we are informed on the facts concerning important environmental issues.

We are not saying plastic bags are healthy for the environment, they are not, if not properly disposed of.  However, a better solution is moving towards the sustainable plastic bag. We should think ecofriendly and sustainable for the life cycle of plastic bags (Production, transportation, use and end of life) and not only focus on a single stage, the last stage.

Do not use “the environmental argument”, know the facts and help the environment!  Companies and the consumer should be aware of the life cycle …. Production, transportation, use and end of life of the plastics bag, it can be Reused and Recycled…

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3 Elements for Sustainability

First of all, there is few things to understand before comparing the use of plastic bags in Europe and USA. In Europe, before using reusable plastic bags, consumers fill their own shop bags generally in Europe. In the United States, jobs that support this activity affect the livelihood of tens of thousands of working families. Sustainability and eco-friendly subjects are important issues, however it needs to be reviewed in conjunction with two other elements, the social elements and the economic affects. The conception of plastic that takes into account only the environmental aspect is not viable on the market if it does work without the two other elements.

Use of reusable bags in Europe are easier to implement, and currently actively used. You cannot permanently change a way of life in one day. However, we need and should change the environmental impact of plastics quickly for a more sustainable planet.

It is necessary to understand that no unique solution exists. There are solutions, however to change the opinion of the consumer, a society like the US is not an easy task, and for other countries for that matter.   If a company offers a viable solution economically, socially and sustainably, consumers will embrace and be ready to bring to their daily life.

Another important issue is the end of life of plastic products after it used and thrown away.   There exist as we all know much plastic wastes in nature, towns and cities or oceans, this plastic can be recycled and should be. If plastic is available that is biodegradable or compostable, will we see the amount of plastics waste as we currently see today?  No, however the message here is that each of us is responsible, each of us should think about the end of life of plastics. It can be reused, recycled or disposed in treatment plants.   We make a better planets as much as the companies that make a better plastic.

Plastic waste cannot be solved only with bioplastics technology, we have to act together, have better plastic for the environment with consumers aware of issues and knowledge of the end of life of plastic products.

BioFinã proposes to replace a part of non-renewable resources used to produce plastic products (plastic bags, cups, packaging …) by a renewable resources, taking into account the social and economic aspects. We should understand that no solution can be viable without the effort of the consumer.

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BioFina, Inc. Exhibits at the Walmart 8th Annual Sustainable Packaging Expo

May 7^th-9^th, 2013 by invitation only, BioFina, Inc. met the stringent FTC guidelines required by Walmart to exhibit at the Walmart and Sam’s 8^th Annual Sustainable Packaging Expo in Rogers, Arkansas.

Walmart a global leader in sustainability initiatives. The Expo is designed to provide Walmart merchants, suppliers and associates an opportunity to meet with packaging and product suppliers to gain first-hand knowledge about sustainable innovations in packaging and how these suppliers can help them achieve their sustainability goals.

The world’s largest retailer has been a driving force in the move toward sustainable packaging solutions—and holding suppliers accountable for their green packaging claims. Under its sustainability-in-packaging effort, “Scorecard”, suppliers are required to assess their products for the Seven R’s, product innovations, carbon foot print and energy impacts as an initial effort to assess product sustainability. Walmart increasingly will be using Scorecard to evaluate its suppliers and inform its buying decisions.

Drew Roth, Chief Operations Officer (Left) and Forde Aley, Vice President of Sales (Right) for BioFina, Inc. were in attendance.

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Plant-based bioplastics & GMOs issue

US researchers found that production of plant-based bioplastics could have health and safety risks linked to their production, but acknowledged that bio-based materials may be more sustainable than petroleum based counterparts.

The study – Sustainability of bio-based plastics: general comparative analysis and recommendations for improvement, by Kenneth Geiser was published in the Journal of Cleaner production.

The research demonstrates that polylactide acid (PLA) production uses 30-50% less fossil energy and generates 50-70% less CO2 emission than petroleum-based plastics, however highlights that feedstock for the material is grown using GMOs and pesticides. Fine starch dust can also cause explosions. Some or all of these concerns were also noted for production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), pure thermoplastic starch (TPS) and poly(trimethylene terephthalate).

Nowadays, many people talk about the benefits of bioplastics, however they are not speaking about the consequences with an increase of this production. High levels of production of plant-based bioplastics will result in GMOs being introduced with this production. Some say that it is only used for the production of plant-based bioplastics, which is not a problem in itself, however these plants are the same that is produced for food. Many researchers will agree that GMOs is a big issue…a big problem. The info graphic created by McKensie long at Cardinal innovative summarizes nicely the GMOs problem.

The study shows preferred bioplastics would use non-GMO feedstock, avoid hazardous additives, be energy and water efficient, address environmental and safety concerns during production, in order not to impact the food supply by using by-products rather than primary food feedstock’s. They should also have flexible disposal options such as compostability or recyclability.

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Global production capacity of bioplastics

According to the Association of European Bioplastics, that has announced global production capacity of bioplastics will increase in five years, from approximately 1.2 million tons in 2011 to 6 million tons by 2016. Figures updated from the annual survey by European Bioplastics and the Institute of bioplastics and biocomposites from Hannover (Germany).

 

In geographical terms, the study underlines that Europe and North America remain interested in R & D and are the primary consumers of plastics. It is interesting that, South America and Asia are taking the steps to develop the facilities and production of sustainable plastic. The United States and Europe must concentrate and set the example for the development and production of earth friendly sustainable plastics. Purchase of sustainable plastic from other countries does not make sound environmental sense, the transportation and fuel costs of the plastics demand is expended energy and loss of valuable resources.  It is important that all environmental aspects must be taken into account and at all levels from conception to sales to the consumer is evaluated for the overall impact it has on our environment. . Developed countries such as the United States and Europe must and should set the example for or environmental future, who after all are the highest consumer of plastic.

Did you know that bioplastics represents less than 1% of global production of plastics?

 

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Sometimes We Need To Look At the Root of the Problem

 

The video “Ordinary Guy” takes a closer look at the issues currently surrounding the controversy of the Plastic Bag.  Corporate comedian Marty Pollio’s video, also giving us an interesting perspective on the concerns for better plastic recycling options.

 

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Every Bit Counts

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