Giving Packaging A New Life

This series of video's were helpful to watch as they actually provided relevant information on how new technologies involving the recycling of all materials has changed the world we live in. New technologies, such as high resolution and infrared cameras as well as 'smart' computers allows the sorting of recycled materials much easier and efficient. These new technologies provide an important service as they convert most sorted plastics into secondary raw materials. In the 1990's most plastic's were either incinerated or landfilled, but as new technologies have emerged the cost of plastic has nearly halved. In the process, a centrifuge system is used to separate the different materials. Camera's and 'smart' computer's also analysis each individual piece of plastic which has been collected and with short bursts of compressed air, they are able to get rid of anything which does not belong. After the recycling process has finished, high grade re-granulate is formed with the recycled plastic and can be used to manufacture such things as drainage pipes, palettes and even children's toys.

However it is not just plastic that is able to be recycled, in fact, most thing's that are created are recycled due to the fact that companies are under new obligations to find out what impact their product has on the environment through a life-cycle analysis. In Germany, companies have to actually pay more if their product has a greater impact on the environment and therefore, designers have actually began to design using the traditional 'less is more' philosophy. Other materials that are recycled include glass, which due to its composition needs to be separated into different colours. The glass is then melted with soda lime and sand and is then able to be reused.

Magnets are also used in the recycling process with reference to aluminium and tinplate. This system is able to sort out the usable materials from the bad in a relatively efficient manner. After aluminium cans are melted, cast and rolled it was interesting to learn that recycling these cans take up 1/20th of energy required for production when comparing them to new goods produced. In the case of tinplate steel scraps account for 40% of new material required for steel production and can be recycled as many times without any quality losses.

Another interesting recycling process that I found interesting was the process to recycle beverage cartons which are composite packs and made up from materials that have been bonded together. In the recycling process the materials are put into drums of water in order to weaken the chemical composition of the materials. After the aluminium and plastic are separated, they can be used in cement production plants. 

Although these video's did not go into great detail and explain the whole process of the recycling process they still gave a good example of how it all works. I would hope to see more new and emerging technologies come out to reduce the impact of our waste on our environment even more.