Plastic is used most everywhere in the modern world. Everything from wrappers on candy to water bottles is plastic. The beginning ingredients of plastics are either oil or natural gas, but adding other chemicals and treating them differently changes how the plastics work. If manufacturers use butadiene, the plastics are tougher.
Even though there are several different kinds of plastic, and even more uses for it, only two things can happen after people are finished using it. Either the plastic can be recycled and used as something new, or it can be thrown away. If it is recycled, what happens depends on what type of plastic it is. A thermoplastic is recyclable because when recycling plants melt it down, it is easy to shape it into something new.
Thermosets are a lot harder to recycle, and people usually just throw them away. Instead of molding these, manufacturers cure them. This makes them a lot tougher and heat resistant, but also means the recycling plant can’t melt them and reshape them. Thermosets make things like
spatulas and electronic components.
When thermoplastics are recycled, they have the ability to change from plastic bottles to jackets, but it takes a several-step process. First, garbage men collect the plastics and take them to a recycling facility. Next, large machines squeeze the plastics into large squares so they are easier to transport. Then machines clean and sort the different kinds of plastics because different plastics melt at different temperatures. Most places use machines called optical beams to do this. The next step is to grind the plastics into small pieces that machines clean and separate again. Some recycling plants will then melt the plastic into little beads that they sell to companies that use plastic. Companies then take the beads or flake and melt them down again and shape them into completely new things.
