Why recycling is important?

The most important purpose of recycling is to reduce the amount of waste and prevent the depletion of resources and to avoid unnecessary use of resources. It also prevents problems such as recycling, transportation or storage of solid waste. The positive use of resources contributes to the environment and economy. Because the resources on earth are limited.

In today's modern world, where environmental awareness is increasing day by day, "waste" is gaining huge importance. In our world where millions of wastes are generated every year, the most important way to prevent environmental problems caused by these wastes is conscious and scientific recycling services.

With this awareness and responsibility, our company produces a solution to one of the biggest problems of the modern world by recycling waste. We are proud of our struggle to leave a cleaner environment and air for future generations.

Akbulut Geri Dönüşüm upgrades its quality standards each day through R&D studies in its laboratories.

It adds new protucts to its product range by closely following the needs of industry.

How Are Plastics Recycled?

Worldwide, 400 million tons of plastic waste is produced every year. While about 80% of these wastes accumulate on land, 20% are either thrown directly into the seas or carried to the seas by rivers. So how are plastics recycled?

What is Plastic?

Plastic; They are materials formed by the bonding of small molecular units consisting of elements such as carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. These molecular units that make up the plastic are called monomers. For example, the ethylene (C2H4) molecule is a monomer. Plastics can be formed under temperature and pressure.

How is Plastic Produced?

Plastics are produced by linking monomers together through catalysts. This long and chain-like structure is called a polymer. This method used in plastic production is called polymerization. For example, polyethylene is a type of plastic. In the presence of the catalyst, the double bonds between the carbons in the ethylene (C2H4) molecule are broken. Then, more than one ethylene molecule is bonded to each other and a chain-like structure is obtained.

We use plastics with different chemical structures in daily life. For example, while it consists of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), ethylene glycol (C2H6O2) and terephthalic acid (C8H6O4) in disposable water bottles; Polyethylene (PE), which is used in insulating layers outside the cables, is formed by the combination of more than one ethylene (C2H4) molecule. Polypropylene (PP) used in cleaning sponges, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) used in doors and windows, polystyrene (PS) used in the production of foam materials and polyamide (PA) used in the production of nylon fabric are also different types of plastics.

How Is Plastic Recycled?

Plastics are recycled by two basic mechanisms. These are mechanical and chemical recycling.

How Does Mechanical Recycling Work?

In the mechanical recycling method, the waste plastics are first collected from the recycling bins and brought to the recycling facilities. After cleaning other materials such as glass and metal, which are together with waste plastics, the plastics are separated according to their types. Because each type of plastic is recycled in different ways according to its chemical composition.

After the plastics are separated according to their type, they are washed. During the washing phase, the labels and food wastes on the plastics are cleaned. The washed plastics are then shredded in crushing machines, shrunk and dried.

The dried plastic parts are melted by heating in machines called extruders. The molten plastic is formed with differently shaped tips at the end of the machine. The semi-fluid plastic coming out of the machine is cooled completely and becomes solid and cut into desired dimensions and sized.

Recycled plastics are sent to companies producing plastic products and used for the production of plastic materials again.

How Does Chemical Recycling Work?

Chemical recycling is an emerging technology for plastics that are difficult to recycle or are economically harmful to recycle mechanically. Three different methods are used in chemical recycling. These are purification, depolymerization and raw material recycling methods.

In the purification method, plastics are dissolved by using suitable solvents according to their types. In this way, plastics are purified from foreign materials and other wastes that cannot be dissolved in the solvent. The purified plastics are crystallized, separated from the solvent and made reusable. This method is mostly used for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

In the depolymerization method, solvents, chemicals and temperature effect separate the plastic to be recycled into monomers or shorter length polymer pieces called oligomers. In the raw material recycling method, pyrolysis, gasification or hydrothermal treatment is used. In the pyrolysis process, plastic is decomposed into hydrocarbons by being exposed to high temperature in an oxygen-free environment. At the end of this process, plastics are recycled into synthetic crude oil. In the gasification process, the plastic is exposed to a very high temperature in an environment with a limited amount of oxygen, and at the end of this process, the plastic is transformed into gases such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane. In hydrothermal processing, the plastic is reacted with hot pressurized water, and at the end of this process, monomer and different chemicals are obtained from the plastic.

What Can We Do Individually to Prevent Plastic Pollution?

According to research, less than 10% of the plastic produced each year is recycled. This situation leads to an increase in plastic pollution. So what can we do individually to prevent the increase of plastic pollution?

• We can throw the plastic we use into the relevant recycling bin.

• We can use shopping bags instead of plastic bags for shopping.

• We can prefer reusable bottles instead of disposable plastic bottles.

• We can use glass products instead of plastic.

• Instead of disposable straws, we can prefer reusable or paper straws.

• Instead of synthetic fabrics, we can prefer natural fabrics such as cotton, wool or bamboo.