What do you need to know regarding the recycling process in the plastic injection industry?
- The method of recycling consists of several parts such as evaluation, cleaning, blending, and testing.
- Recycling can provide numerous benefits to a molding company like waste reduction, closing of the industrial loop, cost reduction, and boosting the company’s reputation.
Plastic is a synthetic material made from various kinds of organic polymers that are molded from the factories of plastic injection molding companies.
As a material, it is sturdy and durable. In fact, it takes centuries for a small piece of plastic to degrade.
Unfortunately, this means that today’s landfills are overflowing with waste made out of various plastic objects. If these plastics are not found in landfills, they are either polluting the streets of the urban city or poisoning the natural bodies of water like rivers and lakes.
Plastic objects tend to clog up sewer lines, thus resulting in flooding when it rains. Water pollution not only endangers the cleanliness of the habitats of marine life, but also the animals themselves. A number of marine animals accidentally ingest these plastic items, which could harm their overall health and could eventually lead to death.
Individuals, who want to do their own part in saving the environment by recycling plastic items, lessen the wasted plastic that will be dumped into the landfills. At the same time, they make use of these plastic items by doing DIY projects with these resources.
If the consumers of these plastic materials are able to find a way to re-use the materials, can the manufacturers do that same?
Yes, they can, and it is very beneficial in the essence of both manufacturing and advertising.
If you want to know how molding companies recycle materials and how they can benefit from doing so, then keep on reading.
Recycling Method
In order to ensure the quality of the finished goods, manufacturers have to follow a rule whenever they recycle plastic materials.
The regrind materials must not be burned or else the properties might change when combined with the virgin resin. This would result in them unyielding to the ideal structure and quality.
Before anything else, the properties of the plastic material must be known in order to determine the level of quality, especially if the material is massive and not just the typical PET bottles; several tests will be done. Through the test, properties like the rate of melt flow, specific gravity, melt volume, melt thermal stability, flexural strength and modulus, impact strength, and moisture content will be determined.
Afterwards, materials will then be cleaned. The magnets will pull out the metal fillers and other metal objects attached to the plastic material.
The scrap materials are then blended using a scrap regrind.
For a test run regarding the performance of the material, a “test bar” is molded. Several other trial runs are done afterwards.
Benefits of Recycling for Plastic Injection Molding Companies
In a broader perspective, the act of recycling plastic materials by molding companies can lessen the number of items being dumped into the landfills or into bodies of water.
Below, we listed some other benefits to recycling of plastic injection molding materials.
Waste Reduction – In whatever operation, error in production is inevitable despite the best efforts of employees. Though it may be minimal, errors with the quality of the finished product can still happen.
In case that there are several products that do not meet the standards of the company, the rejected piece may be put back into the circulation.
Despite the previous manufacturing process that the material has undergone, its quality is maintained.
The Industrial Loop is Closed –The demand for external resources is lessened through the recycling of plastic materials.
Cost Reduction – Utilizing recycled plastic can lower the cost of production of the molding company. This happens because recycled pieces of plastics still cost less compared to manufacturing products using raw resins.
Furthermore, recycled plastic materials provide a more anticipated value of cost. The cost of raw resins is extensively influenced by the varying prices of petroleum.
Boost the Company’s Reputation – With the increasing concern regarding the welfare of the environment, more and more individuals are starting to support companies that incorporate environment saving methods into their operations.
Due to the rise of demand for environment-saving methods of production, clients will then prefer to hire a plastic injection molding company that recycles. Doing so means that they can label their products as recycled pieces, which would boost their sales.
Key Takeaway
Recycling can be done by individuals through DIY projects and also by manufacturing industries like plastic injection molding companies.
It can yield several benefits not only for the environment, but also for the molding company itself.
Initially, waste from rejected pieces is re-introduced into the circulation, thus lessening the generated production waste. The industrial process is also lessened due to the lowered demand for external resources.
With the significantly lower and more stable price of recycled plastics compared to raw the resin, the molding company can easily predict the total cost of production.
Finally, an environmentally-friendly means of production is a great advertising point for the company since more and more people support eco-friendly companies in today’s society.