Recycling Plastic Bags

Plastic bags are used globally on a large scale for various purposes. At the same time, they are greatly responsible to make our environment unstable. They are manufactured from the low density polythene which is a non-biodegradable product. Although they can be degraded through photodegradation, the process involves release of small toxic products which are hazardous to the environment. Improper disposal of polythene bags and its non-biodegradable nature, thus, makes plastic a threat for the environment. Deposition of plastic bags on the ground results in clog landfills, because of the inability to degrade them. Plastic bags when accumulated on water bodies become harmful to the aquatic life. In such a scenario, recycling of plastic bags comes as a savior. Recycling not only eliminates the wastes, but also helps meet the high demand of plastic. The good news is both high and low density polyethylene can be easily recycled. Also, recycling saves a lot of energy, as the process of manufacturing plastic bags demands a huge amount of energy. The process of recycling consumes 20%- 40% lesser energy for the production of new products. The space of manufacturing the plastic is also saved with its recycling. Recycled plastic can be used in many ways such as to make rugs, mats, etc. In the following lines, the different recycling processes for plastic bags are given.

 

This process makes the plastic recycling easier. In this process, condensation polymer undergoes the inverse of the polymerization reaction. This reaction carries out the similar mix of chemicals which are responsible to form the original polymer. This mix of chemicals is purified and used to generate a new chain of the same polymer.

In thermal depolymerization process, assorted polymers are converted into petroleum. This process is very efficient, as it can accept almost every polymer or a mix of polymers.

 

This process is widely coming up in United States, Australia and Japan. The heat compression process accepts all the unsorted and cleaned plastics in all the forms, ranging from the soft plastic bags to heavy industrial waste. However, this process is costly as a lot of energy is required to rotate the giant drums.

 

Now that you are aware of the different processes to recycle plastic, reduce the waste and reuse your plastic bags and contribute for a greener environment!