Recycling plastic
 

Can unwanted plastic be recycled and used to make things like flat panels?

If it can is it a super complicated process?

Cheers, David



PS. Not something I am planning to do in the back garden btw ;)

Depends on the plastic. There are 1000s of different compositions of plastic, each requiring different processes to "re-cycle" them into something useful (and each different composition will break down into something different from the other compoisitions). The majority take a huge amount of energy to break them down.

Vitually ALL plastic is marked with instructions for recycling.

Unfortunately, NOT all local authorities can cope with all types........:(

There's quite a few waste recyclers who now take plastic.
They will want to plastic segregated into type and will want a minimum load to pick up.

Do you know what types and weights you have to get rid of?

nick

Thanks very much for replies chaps. All useful information.

I am doing a little research on whether it is feasible to manufacture recycled plastic into strongish panels that could be used to provide temporary housing in overseas disasters like flooding and earthquakes. Not super expensive, light weight (relatively) and very quickly assembled.

dl

PVC frames from double glazing units can be chipped and remoulded for rigid sheds, but its quite dense, so weight would be problem, but pack size would be low.
No idea what those garden sheds and wendy houses are made from, but they are blown moulds for rigidity but are bulky.

Noted.

But I reckon you could get enough panels for a couple of small shelters on a cart? Or several dozen on a truck.

Depending on rigidify the thought would be to have hollow panels and when locked together in situ the middle of the panels would just have sand/earth tipped in for warmth and weight to keep the whole thing stable and in place. dl

The visitor centre at Dalby Forest has sh!thouse doors made of recycled plastic, they look really good too! :D