Plastics

Most of the plastic we recycle is post-consumer (bottles and jars, etc.), but we also look after post-industrial materials – waste in the production process which cannot be reused.

Plastics are sorted by grade at our plant and baled ready for transport. A bale of plastic weighs about 500 kg. A small amount of Grade 2 plastic is sold locally, with all the rest exported (mainly to China).

Recycled plastics are washed, shredded or chopped, and heated to form pellets or powder, ready to be remade into new products.

Grade 1 plastic (PET or polyethylene terephthalate) makes up soft drink and juice bottles, jam jars, and the like. It can be remade into the same products or used in a wide range of other items, including clothing. A recycled soft drink bottle, for example, could end up as sleeping bag liner or pillow stuffing and in suits and shirts. Twenty-five soft drink bottles make up one eco-fleece top!

Grade 2 plastic (HDPE or high density polyethylene) is in milk and detergent bottles. When reprocessed it is used in a wide variety of products, including electrical insulation, underground drainage pipes, farm irrigation pipes, wheelie-bins, planter pots, and milk and bread crates.

Because the plastic containers are remade into other products it’s not possible to look at such things as energy and water costs compared to making the containers from virgin materials. However, some benefits of plastic include fuel savings when vehicles are made with (lighter) plastic parts and energy savings from (plastic) insulation.