Plastics fall into 7 basic
categories
1 PETE, 2 HDPE, 3 V , 4 LDPE,
5 PP, 6 PS , 7 OTHER.
PETE : plastic soda
bottles
HDPE: High Density
Polyethylene
V : vynil PVC
LDPE: Low Density
Polyethylene
PP: Polypropylene
PS: Polystyrene
The catagory 7 is for
contaminated and mixed material that currently
cannot be recycled.
Most plastic containers have
a triangle with a number and abbreviation to tell
you what grade of plastic they are made from. This
makes seperation for recycling easier.
Post consumer plastics if
cleaned and shredded and in some cases baled are
worth from $50 - $480 per ton.
HDPE is one of the most
sought after it's used in most of the consumer
products we buy from disposable oil containers to
car bumpers. With the current oil crunch the value
of this material is only going to
increase.
The key to maximizing profits
from recycled plastics is seperation.
First sort by material types (PETE, HDPE, V , ECT)
Second by grade this has to
do with how contaminated the material is. If the
material has food, dirt, paint ect. on it, then
the value will be much less than clean
material.
Thirdby color certain colors are
actually worth more and any material that is in a
virgin colored state is usually worth the
most.
