From Beginning to End: Plastic Recycling Process

Recycle Your Plastics Through Our Green Recycling Program

When you partner with Complete Recycling, you’re guaranteed to have a simple and cost-effective plastic recycling program. We educate you on the easiest and best way to make some green from your plastic recyclables. Oftentimes, this simply includes proper separation and packaging on the client’s part, and this can be facilitated with the help of our equipment programs, including our financing options. Have you ever wondered about the recycling process for plastics? As a client of Complete Recycling, you take part in a simple recycling process. Some steps in the program and benefits of the process include:

• Your company sorts recycling materials for pick up. This may include packaging the plastics.
• We remove your scrap on a guaranteed schedule.
• We transfer the materials safely to their destination.
• We partner with trusted organizations across the country for responsible recycling.
• You reduce your costs associated with waste output, so you profit.
• You make a contribution to sustainability and obtaining a neutral carbon footprint.

Plastics Reclamation Process

After the materials leave your facility and your profits increase, the general recycling process for plastics begins. So, where does the plastic go once it’s collected? We partner with respected reclamation facilities where your plastics undergo a strict cleaning and purification process. Some of our partner recycling companies are even able to convert recycled products into another material, all in one place.

To start, reclamation facilities use equipment that breaks apart the bales of plastic for recycling. Then the materials are sorted by color and resin type. Next, bottles are ground and shredded into small flakes. The lighter and heavier flakes are separated from each other by a special piece of machinery.

Once fully separated, the flakes are washed with detergents to free them of further contamination. The clean flakes then pass through another piece of equipment that additionally separates the plastic resin types. The flakes are then dried.

Many of our partners’ reclamation facilities have a process that separates the flakes one step further, so that it creates a nearly pure plastic, meaning the contamination levels are minuscule. The last step is typically to melt down the flakes and convert them into pellets.

Recycling Plastics: End Product

Even though plastics undergo an extensive process to ensure they are as pure as possible, recycled plastics aren’t as pure or consistent as they once were. That said, virgin plastics secure higher rates than post-consumer plastics.

Typically, post-consumer plastics are used for specific products, which rarely include food or beverage containers due to safety concerns. The reason being is that plastics are subject to absorbing chemicals during the recycling process or are not refined enough to go back into the food packaging stream.

Complete Recycling can increase your understanding of the plastic recycling process, and how to profit most from the types of plastic at your facility. Contact us today to learn more.