The plastic recycling process involves collecting and sorting scrap or waste plastic items, melt them down and repurpose them into something else for reuse.
Most plastic materials are melted into pellets, which are then used to make denser plastics like chairs, tables, etc., or reused for other purposes.
The consumption of plastic items has been increasing by 10% yearly but the disposal methods of plastic have not evolved which makes the situation murky (dark) for us.
One of the major causes of this problem is that there is no segregation at the plastic waste sources as many people today still use one bin for all kinds of wastes.
According to the government, waste plastic items make up about 8% of the total solid wastes in India, and this plastic comes from the use of single-use plastics such as bags, cutlery, and straws alone.
According to research, the major cause of this problem is majorly the fact that the majority of the people hardly dispose their plastic wastes in the right manner.
However, you can give your waste plastic items some value by choosing to recycle them to form recycled polyester which in turn is made to produce many other things like shoes, T-shirts, bags, etc.
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Every individual can contribute by making small changes in their plastic waste materials dumping patterns, and to begin with, let’s follow these simple basic rules:
– After using any plastic product, wash it with clean water.
– Crush the bottle or container
– They should be stored separately from the wet waste.
– Finally, hand over your gathered plastic wastes to the plastic agent for recycling or reuse.
Segregating the plastic wastes at the plastic waste source is one of the best ways to manage waste in better ways for effective waste disposal.
There is no complete segregation process for waste plastic items at the source in India and some other parts of the world due to a lack of awareness and information about recycling which I believe will gradually improve over time.
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Clean segregated plastics should always be sent out for recycling through recycling agencies or ragpickers.
However, to improve the quality of living, we have to leverage more on the better and proper ways of disposing plastic waste materials, which include:
(1) Reduce
(2) Reuse
(3) Recycle
(4) Educate
In a detailed explanation, the different ways of improving the quality of living through reducing excess plastic wastes within our environment include;
(1) Reduce
Reducing the number of waste plastic items we produce on daily basis has to do with knowing the better alternative ways to either reuse them, recycle them as well as educating others that are not aware of the proper methods of plastic wastes disposal.
(2) Reuse
You can easily repurpose and reuse your old or waste plastic items to reduce the number of plastic wastes that go into the trash can.
This will in return help in preserving our environment and improve healthy living.
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(3) Recycle
Plastic recycling simply involves the process of recycling waste plastic items to form other related products that can be used for other beneficial purposes.
You can gather your recyclable plastic waste materials and take them to any recycling center near me/you to exchange them for cash. That way, you get to earn some passive income by doing so.
(4) Educate
It is necessary to educate people especially those who are not aware yet of the importance of proper plastic waste management methods.
The provision of adequate information will help to create the awareness required to dispose plastic waste following the proper methods thereby saving the environment to make it comfortable and hygienic for us all.
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