Acceptance of plastic bags for recycling. Recycling plastic bags as a business Bags for packaging stretch waste

Plastic bags are made from the same substance that makes all plastic: petroleum.

Petroleum materials and products have two main disadvantages: Manufacturing produces significant amounts of pollution and the product is not biodegradable.

In other words, it is difficult to produce and almost impossible to get rid of once produced.

According to the Natural Environment website, it takes between 60 and 100 million barrels of oil to produce plastic bags in a year worldwide, and it will take about 400 years for them to fully decompose.

Therefore, it is better to recycle plastic bags.

The recycling symbol (three closed arrows) is found on most plastic products, but this is often a marketing gimmick.

Many bags collected by factories cannot be recycled. Most of them end up in landfills to lie there for the next hundreds of years.

There are, however, biodegradable packages, but not everything is clear on this topic either. Whether they really decompose in nature, or is this just another trick to increase sales, we figured it out.

Plastic is a durable, lightweight and cheap material. It can be easily molded into a variety of widely available products.

Production and use of plastic bags has increased over the past 10 years.

Therefore, their reuse, recovery and recycling are extremely important.

Bags made from:

polyethylene;
cellophane;
other polymers.

Polyethylene

Recycling polyethylene is important because in most cases it is non-biodegradable and may accumulate in landfills for decades. At the same time, recycling polyethylene is quite easy to carry out.

Due to its composition, waste plastic can be melted to a liquid state.

As it hardens, it is reconstructed or extruded, making the material reusable.

Therefore recycling plastic bags could lead to the creation of new, durable products that also are cost-effective and environmentally friendly.

Recyclable polyethylene bags include:

for shopping;
from milk, kefir, etc.;
for garbage;
All types of thin and very soft bags are made from low-density polyethylene.

Cellophane

Typically, cellophane is not recycled, although it can be considered a recyclable material with scientific point vision.

The cellophane bag biodegrades naturally (since it is not plastic). Therefore, for disposal it is better to place it in compost.

In the production of cellophane use carbon disulfide and sulfuric acid which may cause pollution.

Therefore, it is necessary to limit packet emission and make the most of each one.

Products made from other polymers

From films used to make plastic bags, the most common four polymers:

High density polyethylene (HDPE).
Medium density polyethylene (MDPE).
Low density polyethylene (LDPE).
Linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE).

The vast majority of grocery bags are made from HDPE.

Characteristics of HDPE:

moderate opacity;
tendency to bruises;
high strength;
lack of ability to stretch.

High-density polyethylene bags tear easily, but due to their strength, they are well suited for use as grocery bags, clothing, and packaging.

HDPE resins are less opaque than HDPE, but not as transparent as low-density polyethylene.

Bags made from PESP do not stretch and do not have high strength.

PESP is used in consumer packaging for paper products such as paper towels and toilet paper, etc.

LDPE is used for the manufacture of bags with moderate tensile and strength properties and a high degree of transparency.

LLDPE is slightly thinner than LDPE and has an elastic consistency.

This material usually appears sticky and is used as a stretch film.

All these raw materials are processed at waste recycling factories. More durable plastic cannot be recycled because the material clogs sorting equipment at processing facilities, which leads to its breakdown or shutdown.

Processing technology and equipment

The simplest process for recycling plastic bags includes the processes:

collection;
sorting;
grinding;
washing;
swimming trunks;
granulation.

Production processes vary depending on composition or type plastic.

Most processing plants operate in two stages:

Automatic or manual plastic sorting to eliminate all contaminants from the plastic waste stream.
Melting plastic directly into new uniform or crushed into flakes, then melted before final processing into pellets.

For recycling plastic bags the following equipment is involved:

sorting plant;
plastic injection molding machines;
extrusion machines
installations for blow and vacuum molding;
molding and thermoforming equipment;
other equipment depending on the level of production.

Recycling bags at home

Besides the fact that plastic bags reusable and reusable in the kitchen, at home and in the garden, they can also be recycled at home. The result will be the necessary durable sheets of plastic for crafts and further use.

To do this, you need accumulated plastic bags (at least 100 pieces), regular baking parchment, an iron and scissors, and an oven.

The bags must be pre-washed and dried. It is better to use HDPE bags, and colors and designs don't matter.

Having cut off the handles, the bottom and the side, we fold the resulting rectangles in layers. A layer should consist of no more than 5 packets.

Place a large sheet of parchment on a heat-resistant surface (plywood, OSB), fold the first 5 bags on top and lay another sheet of parchment.

Iron at average temperature ironing the sheets, starting from the middle to the edges. If the sheets are poorly fused, then increase the temperature, if holes appear, reduce it.

Having chosen the desired temperature, iron the remaining stacks of sheets.

Next comes the soldering of the five-layer sheets to each other. We also iron the first two five-layer sheets, but at a higher temperature. We apply the next five-layer solder onto the result and iron it again.

Sheets must be added to the thickness you need, applying them to different sides of the welded stack (i.e. it is better to turn them over).

The sheets turn out to be quite dense, so there is already a five-layer soldering can be used anywhere you want.

But for higher quality sheets you need them bake in the oven:

Place on a baking sheet parchment.
Place a multi-layer briquette on parchment.
Cover with a sheet of parchment.
Place a baking sheet on top as well.
Place on the top baking sheet a couple of bricks for weight.
Place this in the oven for 30 minutes at 200°C.
We take it out and wait until it cools down without removing the bricks.
When it cools down, check the edges of the polyethylene. They must be homogeneous. If not, place in the oven at a higher temperature of up to 230 ° C.
The resulting briquettes trim the edges.
We use recycled polyethylene.

Video on the topic

We invite you to watch a video about recycling plastic bags:

Conclusion

The goal of recycling plastic bags is to reduce plastic pollution while reducing the cost of purchasing starting materials for the production of new plastic products.

This approach helps save energy and frees the environment from pollution from plastic bags, and reusing polyethylene at home will save the cost of purchasing some items and materials.

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Why is it dangerous to neglect packaging and how important is polyethylene recycling for the environment? In our life, polyethylene is present as packaging containers, but despite its narrow specialization, it is widespread everywhere. Almost every home has a bag of bags that we collect out of principles of saving. But the trouble is, it turns out that the better the raw material, the more difficult it is to dispose of it and the longer the period of its decomposition itself.

Relevance of processing

Recycling polyethylene raw materials is an important expense item for the city, since the material is characterized by incredible stability. He is not afraid of water, alkali, or salt solutions. Polyethylene is not afraid even of organic and inorganic acids. It can be noted that these are not bad qualities, but they can result in a number of problems.

First of all, the environmental situation is of concern - according to rough estimates, it takes up to 300 years for polyethylene to decompose. If a simple plastic bag ends up in a landfill in the general mass household waste, then it greatly complicates the processing process. Over time, this bag undergoes thermal aging, gradually decomposing under the influence of sun rays, heat and oxygen. During destruction, a harmless package releases harmful chemical substances into soil and water.

Alas, it is not possible to limit the production of plastics and polyethylene, but the entire work process can be rationally organized. Polyethylene waste is essentially a universal material. Without exaggeration, polyethylene recycling can be called a new life for raw materials. A person is required to create and improve methods for collecting and processing raw materials in order to make the process cyclical. Polyethylene waste may well become everyday items.

Processing plants

IN last years The number of organizations processing this raw material is steadily growing. And it's not just a matter of environmental problems, but also in the prospects for the development of such a business. Polyethylene can be an excellent base for creating plastic panels, garbage containers, all kinds of household containers. This opens up some scope for the imagination of entrepreneurs, although, naturally, recycled polyethylene products involve some restrictions.

Difficulties recycling does not cause film and bags, since the structure of the materials used for the most part does not change, but the quality of the processed raw materials decreases, and accordingly the scope of further application is narrowed.

Workflow Features

There are several cycles for processing plastic bags and films. The first cycle has almost no effect on reducing the consumer characteristics of new products. But each subsequent cycle makes its own “negative contribution”, making the raw materials suitable only for the production of special materials.

Based on existing technologies, six stages of processing polyethylene waste can be distinguished:

First comes the collection of raw materials: film, bottles, etc. household waste. Waste sorting can be done manually or mechanically. If household waste is separated into waste paper, glass, paper, and PET during collection, then the amount of waste that requires disposal can be reduced by a third.
The collected raw materials are sent to washing machines. This step is necessary in order to get rid of dirt, foreign objects and paper. If raw materials are delivered directly to collection points, then the receiver can check the condition of film, bottles, and waste paper in order to increase or decrease the price offered for them.
Next, the collected raw materials are crushed, for which crushing plants are used.
In case there is moisture or random solid impurities left in the raw materials, a processing process is carried out in a centrifuge.
Now the material is sent to the drying chamber, where heat treatment also takes place.
The work is completed and the material is ready for recycling. It can be used to make universal products: plastic film, bags, packaging containers, pipes.

Work in detail

Now let’s try to take a closer look at the process of processing polyethylene into granules, because before this the process was considered only schematically. Of course, the work requires the appropriate equipment.

Well-established work is possible if you have:

washing machine
crushing plant
centrifuges
drying plant
agglomerator
granulator
extruder

In production, it would be important to have a conveyor or pneumatic conveyor, which will allow the process to be fully automated.

At home, it is almost impossible to establish an uninterrupted process for obtaining recycled polyethylene, but you can lay the foundation for a promising business. First of all, you can declare the process of collecting raw materials, since without it such work is in principle impossible. Manual sorting of household waste will be cheaper compared to mechanically, but you will have to start with a small volume of raw materials used.

Self-processing of the film allows you to obtain a dense waterproof fabric with waterproofing function. The process itself is simple - a piece of film needs to be placed between two parts of fabric and ironed with an electric iron. The output is a three-layer composite material, since the film melts and penetrates the layers of fabric. You can create a composite material based on film, fabric and aluminum foil with your own hands. The operating algorithm is the same, except for the fact that one layer of fabric is replaced with foil. Material made from film, fabric and foil is an excellent heat insulator. Using cross-linked polyethylene, many people install heated floors in their homes.

For more benefit

Agglomerator is a device capable of processing film and bottles. Due to the effect of temperature, an agglomerate is obtained - baked lumps from former bottles and film. The agglomerate can be sold already at this stage or go further and process it into granules.

A polyethylene granulator allows you to increase enterprise income from the collection and sale of secondary raw materials. The result is a product that is technically superior to its “powdery or scaly counterparts” due to its small volume (and therefore lower costs for packaging and transportation), high flowability, minimization of losses and dust formation, and lower risk of destruction and photoaging.

Why does an enterprise need an extruder? Just with its help you can get unique material– polyethylene low pressure. The extruder starts working after the agglomerator has had its say and turns the result of collection and processing into pulp. Now the molten mass of plastic goes through the molding hole, where it melts and creates threads that are cooled under water and cut into small pieces. The output is a ready-made HDPE granule.

At low pressure

Low density polyethylene is widely used throughout the world. It is an organic compound that resembles white wax. Recycled low-density polyethylene is obtained by collecting and recycling bottles and pipes.

This material is not afraid of frost or chemicals. It does not feel shocks and is not a current conductor. It should be added that this material is waterproof and does not react with alkalis, acids and salt solutions. HDPE decomposes under the influence of nitric acid (50%), chlorine and fluorine.

How this product can be useful

Accessories for swimming pools are made on the basis of HDPE.
It is used in the operation of 3D printers.
This material is relevant for working under conditions of chemical and electrical influence.
HDPE is good for creating anti-corrosion coatings, food containers, bottles and collecting water connections.
In sports institutions, HDPE is used to produce gymnastic hoops.
In restaurants, HDPE is the future plastic bag, plastic set or container. The HDPE bag rustles and wrinkles, so it is used for so-called “T-shirts”.
Manufacturers of pyrotechnics use HDPE to make their work more spectacular.

Bottom line

Processing polyethylene raw materials into granules makes it possible to significantly reduce the amount of waste in city landfills. Remember that polyethylene and plastic hardly decompose. Meanwhile, on the basis of PET it is possible to make successful business. Don't throw away anything that may be useful in the future. Even a simple bag, bottle, film can be useful for business.

Due to its versatility, low cost and durability, plastic has found its application in all spheres of life. Today, plastic is the most common artificial material on the planet. He's also first on the trash list. The amount of plastic waste on the planet is reaching epidemic proportions. Many scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs began to pay attention to this problem.

Industrial machines for recycling plastic are usually very expensive and quite complex in design. And, let's face it, recycling plastic on an industrial scale does not pay off. Because the production cycle is “ raw material - plastic product"much shorter and cheaper than - " garbage - sorting - plastic product - recycling - cleaning - raw materials - plastic product" That is why not all cities in the world have factories for processing plastic waste. And their mass appearance is not expected in the near future.

It turns out that the niche recycling plastic at home open. And it is waiting for those who monetize it from any side. A to the common man you don't need much. After all, the beauty of this niche is that waste plastic, essentially garbage, lies under everyone’s feet and is of no use to anyone. That is, excellent and durable material - for free! All that remains is to pick it up, process it in one form or another, and reuse it. And if you don’t like the result, rework it again!

Project " Precious Plastic» helps all consumers give up plastic waste new life. He invites everyone to recycle plastic on their own using household machines, the drawings of which are freely distributed on the Internet.

This project, developed by a Dutch designer Dave Hakkens, shows what can be done to help stop the "plastic plague" in the environment.

Dave, concerned about the problem of plastic waste, found on the Internet drawings of several devices that allow him to somehow recycle plastic at home. Having collected the first samples, improved them, and developed a modular concept for future devices, Hakkens created the international project “ Precious Plastic" In which he invites everyone to assemble and use four simple but effective plastic recycling machines.

The use of devices allows you to extend the service life of various plastic household items by simply recycling them into others. Unnecessary to necessary. Dishes, artificial rattan, various interior elements - here is a small list of items that can be made from household plastic waste using these machines.

Four devices, depending on the type and quality of the plastic, allow it to be processed in different ways:

Shredder or shredder - a device for grinding plastic waste into crumbs for subsequent processing - heating;
Extruder or extruder - a device that extrudes a heated plastic mass in the form of a rope or tape. That is, the result is artificial rattan or consumables for a 3D printer.
Injector or an injector - heats the polymer crumbs to a plastic mass and injects them into the desired shape;
Press- plastic crumb under pressure and high temperature pressed into various new items.

The most amazing thing about the project “ Precious Plastic"what are they unique cars are distributed free of charge. More precisely, the drawings of the device and instructions for assembling them are available to everyone (video instructions will be below). All that remains is to assemble the cars and start making money on them.

How to make money by recycling plastic at home? Recycling plastics and polymers at home!

Firstly. By recycling unnecessary plastic into useful plastic products and selling them as unique handmade items. This is the simplest and most affordable solution.

Secondly. Entire creative laboratories and coworking spaces are opening based on Hakkens machines. Where anyone can come with their plastic waste, pay money, and work on the devices.

Third. Assistance in assembling and selling devices. Not everyone can master device drawings. And, moreover, collect them. But they are ready to buy assembled similar machines. Why not take advantage of this? Moreover, ready-made devices are quite expensive. Assembly, if you have everything you need, will take no more than a month for any handy guy in the garage.

Fourth. You definitely have your own ideas!

Video No. 1: how to assemble a shredder for shredding plastic

Video No. 2: how to assemble an extruder for plastic processing

Video No. 3: how to assemble an injector for plastic recycling

Video No. 4: how to assemble a press for plastic recycling

So, after studying the video, you can start assembling the devices. For more convenient work, we suggest you study the drawings on the official website of the project. In English.

If the devices are too complicated, you can look at a simple way to recycle plastic bottles at home.

Bonus: the simplest device for cutting plastic bottles

Appeared on Kickstarter new project « Plastic Bottle Cutter", which gives consumers the opportunity to use plastic bottles again.

The simplest device (and you will see this when you see the photo below) allows you to turn an ordinary plastic bottle into a plastic thread of various thicknesses, which you can use at your discretion.

From this thread you can weave various items- from small baskets to elegant pieces of furniture.

In general, disposable plastic bottles are a valuable resource due to the fact that the highest quality plastic is used in their production. But this advantage is not taken into account by most people and the bottles are simply thrown away. The rate of bottle throwing is increasing every day. Thus, the problem of effective reuse and recycling these materials is simply necessary and mandatory. This will reduce pollution environment.

Polyethylene collection

Our company does not process all types of plastic bags, but only film, bags, sacks, production defects of stretch film (the so-called shrink film) and LDPE.

LDPE is high-density polyethylene or, as it is also called, low-density polyethylene. LDPE waste can be generated during the direct production of polyethylene film. There is a lot of waste - in stores (packaging bottles, boxes, boxes), at glass factories (from packaging bottles, cans), at distilleries and beer factories (from packaging containers or finished products).

Stretch film is linear high-density polyethylene (LDPE). It can stretch a lot. Due to this property, as well as increased resistance to punctures and tearing, stretch film is used for packaging various goods, in particular on pallets. Stretch film waste is mainly generated and accumulated in warehouses of any size, at customs terminals, logistics centers, etc.

But we do not recycle the popular T-shirt bags made of HDPE (low-density polyethylene) and “biodegradable” bags that can be found, for example, in ABC of Taste. Polypropylene film, PVC film, bubble film, polyamide film, multilayer PVD+PP, PVD+PA films, as well as double-sided two-color films are also not suitable. Finally, we do not accept film contaminated with oils, grease, food waste and pesticides.

Sorting

We take the collected polyethylene to the warehouse. Up to 100 tons of film waste can be stored here, naturally in pressed form. At the first stage, the raw materials undergo careful sorting. Stretch is separated from LDPE, and types of films that cannot be processed by our facilities are rejected.

Crusher

After sorting, bags of a certain color are put into a crusher. In it, using V-shaped knives (in our circles this type is also called “dovetail”), the film is crushed to particles of uniform size. The knives are driven by an electric motor.

Washing

From the crusher, through a pneumatic conveyor, the so-called “crushed material” enters the sink. In it, with the addition of special cleaning solutions, the “crushed” is cleaned of dust and other non-polyethylene inclusions.

Cooking

The next stage of processing is agglomeration. The so-called “cooking” takes place in it. The operator loads clean “crushed material” into the working chamber through the loading window. The raw materials fall along the guides onto the rotating rotor, are crushed by knives and, due to friction against the body and among themselves, are heated to the plasticization temperature. In this case, the entire volume of loaded raw materials becomes like a mushy mass.

When the material becomes homogeneous, “shock” water is added to it, as a result of which the material is sharply cooled and sintered into individual small balls of irregular shape. The agglomerate is dried for some more time at natural ambient temperature and unloaded into prepared containers to go to the final stage. The cooking process itself lasts from 5 to 10 minutes.

Granulation

The granulation process can be compared to minced meat through a meat grinder. The agglomerate that we obtained at the previous stage is loaded into the extruder hopper. It is called so because the production of granules is based on the extrusion method - forcing the molten mass through a molding hole.

In general, our “minced meat” from boiled bags is melted under the action of heaters and pressure created by a rotating screw. The polymer melt is forced through a filter into the rotating extruder head. Already from it come the so-called threads. To cool, we pass them through a water hose and then into knives, where we cut them into uniform granules.

Storage

The granules are packaged in clean polypropylene bags, approximately 50 kg each. No special storage conditions are required, but it is advisable that it be in a dry room.

Finished raw materials

We sell the resulting granules, depending on the composition and color. Stretch granules of natural color are used for the production of secondary stretch. LDPE granules of natural color are used for the production of secondary shrink or technical film. Colored LDPE granules are mainly used for the production of garbage bags.

Millions of plastic bags are used and thrown away in Moscow every year. It turns out that some of them are successfully recycled. Today we will go to such an enterprise and find out how polyethylene is prepared for reuse.

The Moscow Region company "Expert Vtor" does not process all types of plastic bags, but only film, bags, bags, production defects of stretch film (the so-called shrink film) and LDPE.

The company does not recycle popular T-shirt bags made of HDPE (low-density polyethylene) and “biodegradable” bags, which can be found, for example, in ABC of Taste. Polypropylene film, PVC film, bubble film, polyamide film, multilayer PVD+PP, PVD+PA films, as well as double-sided two-color films are also not suitable. Also, film contaminated with oils, fats, food waste and toxic chemicals will not be accepted.

The collected polyethylene first goes to the warehouse. Up to 100 tons of film waste can be stored here, naturally in pressed form. At the first stage, the raw materials undergo careful sorting. Stretch is separated from LDPE, and types of films that cannot be processed by the enterprise’s facilities are rejected.

After sorting, bags of a certain color are put into a crusher. In it, using V-shaped knives (this type is also called “dovetail”), the film is crushed to particles of uniform size. The knives are driven by an electric motor.

The next stage of processing is agglomeration. The so-called “cooking” takes place in it. The operator loads clean “crushed material” into the working chamber through the loading window.

The raw materials fall along the guides onto the rotating rotor, are crushed by knives and, due to friction against the body and among themselves, are heated to the plasticization temperature. In this case, the entire volume of loaded raw materials becomes like a mushy mass.

The granulation process can be compared to minced meat through a meat grinder. The agglomerate that we obtained at the previous stage is loaded into the extruder hopper.

It is called so because the production of granules is based on the extrusion method - forcing the molten mass through a molding hole.

In general, the “minced meat” from the boiled bags is melted under the action of heaters and pressure created by a rotating screw. The polymer melt is forced through a filter into the rotating extruder head. Already from it come the so-called threads. To cool, they are passed through a water hose and then into knives, where they are cut into uniform granules.

The granules are packaged in clean polypropylene bags, approximately 50 kg each. No special storage conditions are required, but it is advisable that it be in a dry room. The resulting granules, depending on the composition and color, are sold. Stretch granules of natural color are used for the production of secondary stretch.

LDPE granules of natural color are used for the production of secondary shrink or technical film. Colored LDPE granules are mainly used for the production of garbage bags.

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