goods? So, while recycling is good, using recycled products in preference to those made
from virgin materials is truly noble. And you’d be amazed how much really cool recycled
product there is out there. You must have noticed walkways, fences and benches made
from plastic planks and poles – they’re all over. And what makes them so special is that
they’re made from the most pathetically unwanted plastic. Yup, even garbage is graded
on a scale of desirability.
High-quality PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, for example, can be recycled into
pellets for use in high-tech processes like rotomoulding to make consumer goods, or into
fibres to make clothes, duvet fillings and insulation, but much of the plastic we throw
away is clingwrap, bits of old stuff, plastic bags, broken toys, bottle tops and various odds
and ends. These cannot be used for high-quality plastic recycling. But they can be made
into planks and poles.
The waste plastic is cleaned and sorted, then it’s put into a machine similar to a
woodchipper and broken down into bits. This is sent to an extruder, where the plastic
is heated sufficiently to soften and partially melt it, and then it’s squeezed out through