Plastics are one of the wastes that constitute a high percentage of waste due to the increasing consumption of all kinds of plastic products. Before we start recycling plastic products, it is not bad to have an overview of the uses and properties of these materials and the origin of their production. Plastics are materials that are widely used in packaging industries due to the ease of molding and shaping.
Also, due to their high strength, high thermal stability, and corrosion resistance, they are used in the production of parts for the automotive, electronics, and aircraft industries, and even astronautics and rocket manufacturing.
That is, plastic products are used from handbags and plastic containers to engineering gears, car body, wire and cable covering, hall flooring and medical devices, etc. Therefore, for the above reasons, they are a good substitute for metals. By the same amount, their waste is increasing day by day.
Waste plastics
In general, waste plastics are produced in Iran from three sources. Urban, industrial and hospital waste so that according to the statistics obtained from the analysis of urban waste, these materials make up about 15% of the city’s waste.
The biggest source of plastic waste is urban waste, which is bought by the owners of this industry and used in the plastic recycling process.
Industrial waste, which is known as machine waste, is sold by factory owners. Or they are re-crushed by a mill and used together with new materials in the production line. provided that the product is not used for food or high physical and mechanical properties such as strength and impact resistance etc. are not desired.
Waste plastics from hospitals, such as serum, syringes, etc., are also burned or buried by waste incinerators.
Why is recycling of plastic products important?
There are many reasons for recycling plastics: the construction of new petrochemical plants and as a result the production of more plastics, more consumption resulting from the phenomenon of urbanization, for example disposable food containers, and also more consumption due to use in various industries, non-decomposition and durability. in nature for at least 300 years and causing environmental pollution and the most important factor is the increase in the price of new petrochemical materials due to the removal of subsidies for energy carriers as well as the increase in global prices etc. ) become more and more. In terms of price, the price of recycled granules is usually about 30% lower than new petrochemical granules. In fact, the reason for the progress of the plastic recycling industry in the world, in addition to the environmental issue, is that valuable products can be made from materials that are lower in price compared to new ones, and this creates added value. For example, the Fortel company increased the sales of its products from 3 million pounds to 30 million pounds within 7 years by producing recycled fibers from PET bottles. This company claims to have the highest consumption of recycled bottles. And to supply its raw materials, it also collects from different countries. Fortunately, there are successful examples of this type in our country.
Advantages of plastic recycling
Less waste is burned or buried.
Less energy and raw materials are needed to produce waste materials than new ones.
Reducing waste and reusing it reduces environmental pollution.
Problems of recycling plastic products and how to solve them
As you know, the presence of heat and the phenomenon of destruction during the production of recycled materials has caused these materials to have lower properties than new ones. In fact, the depolymerization factor causes the molecular mass of these materials to decrease, and therefore recycled granules cannot be used alone to produce high quality products and also because of the contamination in food packaging and the manufacture of cosmetics and hygiene products.
In Iran, in addition to the above problems, the lack of standards and supervision for recycled materials causes the production of low-quality products that are harmful to health. For example, it has even been seen that, unfortunately, profit-seeking people in deprived areas have used recycled materials in the production of baby glass pacifiers, which has caused the occurrence of pests in babies. The lack of equipment that can produce good quality products is one of the other problems of this industry. According to my observations, most of the machines have minimal facilities, and in addition, the Egyptian hand tools are mostly second-hand and old, and even in the washing process, they do not use enough water, so it is difficult to enter the workshop that does recycling.
Solving the problem of recycled materials:
Use of relevant and up-to-date technologies. For example, to produce soft drink bottles from recycled bottles, a technology called (B to B) can be used, which, due to the elimination of microbial contamination, the recycled cork can be used again to produce soft drink bottles.
Mixing with new ingredients or adding additives
He designed the product so that it has more strength, for example, he chose a thicker wall of the product.
The manufacturing process is chosen according to the type of product. For example, it was used in the production of products whose color is not very important, and because generally a mixture of several plastics is recycled, the final color will be dark green or black, which is even for products that have a light color, for example, containers made of polyethylene. Colorants can also be added to cover the original color of the product.
Coaxtron process in the production of products obtained from plastic recycling is extruded between new materials. For example, multi-layer sheets where the middle layer is recycled polyethylene terephthalate and the bottom and top layers are extruded new materials. This technology is purchased by the private sector in Iran. It should be noted that all recycled plastics are used in injection processes, compression molding, extrusion and blow calendering, thermoforming and rotational molding.
Sandwich injection molding is another plastic recycling technique, the inner core of which is recycled material and the outer layer is new material.
Conclusion :
The plastic recycling industry in Iran is considered one of the young industries and is of particular importance due to economic issues. But in the meantime, there is a need for supervision and standards so that products with more added value can be created.
In addition to environmental issues, if you are interested in investment and entrepreneurship in the field of plastic recycling, Pars Polymer, with a long history in the field of producing and importing plastic injection machines and inflatable plastic machines, is ready to cooperate in this money-making industry. . If you wish, you can contact our consultants and use the provided solutions for free.