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OPPORTUNITIES Pages |
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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.
If you want to get into serious plastic recycling I would highly recommend investing into equipment to either shred or bale the material, in order to reduce its transport volume.
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