How Recyclable Materials Are Processed

It is vital that everyone try their best to recycle items, especially when taking into consideration the havoc that pollution and overflowing landfills can wreak. There are many recycling companies that serve homeowners who live in residential areas as well as business owners who oversee commercial properties. Look into residential recycling Chula Vista CA for more information about recycling services. Here is some information concerning how recyclable materials are processed. 

Glass

Once glass materials arrive at a recycling facility, the specialists there clean them by scraping off their labels and removing any dirt and debris. Then, they sort them based on color; there are three main color types–green, amber, and clear. After going through the sorting process, the glass is crushed and melted. The melted glass is used to develop new glass products.

Plastics

Using an infrared beam, recycling plant workers are able to organize plastic bottles based on their color and type. Once organized, each bottle is shredded, washed, dried, and melted. The melted plastic cools, forming pellets, which are utilized to make new plastic products.

Paper

In a recycling plant, workers place pieces of paper into a pulper, which contains chemicals that break down paper fiber bonds. These chemicals turn the paper into pulp. The pulp is passed through a screen filter and chemically cleaned to remove dirt, oil, and ink. It is then bleached, dried, and pressed to create new sheets of paper. 

Aluminum

Soda cans and aluminum scraps are cleaned, sorted, and then shredded. Then, they are crushed and compressed by machinery. The compressed blocks of aluminum are melted and cooled to form ingots. These ingots are flattened to generate sheets that can be used to make new cans or aluminum parts.

The technology employed to process recyclable materials has become more advanced. This has made recycling flow more smoothly and efficiently.