e
Caught On Tape: Plastic Bottle Recycling Facilities
Do you know how plastic bottles are actually recycled? The amount of energy that goes into it is pretty insane, as you'll see in this video below of the Ecostar recycling facility in Wisconsin. The amount of steps—not to mention electricity, water and manpower—that need to be taken to go from a bale of plastic bottles into safe, useable material is pretty staggering.
What's even more staggering is that as energy-intensive as recycling is, it still gives off only half the carbon that's produced when creating virgin materials. It makes you wonder why we don't spend more time looking at more efficient ways to convey fluids, or if our current system of plastic bottles is really the best thing mankind can come up with.As a side note, Plastic News, where we picked up this video link, points out that Ecostar's parent company, Placon, mulled over shooting the video tour themselves or hiring a pro video company. They opted for the latter, as you can tell by the video's production quality. For any company trying to make this decision, compare the video above with the one below, which we also found at Plastics News. It's of Marglen Industries' PET recycling plant in Georgia and was shot by the International Bottled Water Association. While we certainly appreciated that the IBWA took the time to produce the video, you can clearly see the difference between hiring a pro vs. DIY when it comes to producing videos. Both convey similar information, but we think you'll find one makes it vastly easier to absorb the data.
-
oFavorite This
-
Q5Comment
Directory Company Profiles
Core77
Industrial Design
Resources
Industrial Design
Resources
-
Core77 Directory
Find the Best Industrial Design CompaniesGo -
TactileTactile is a product and UX design firm founded in 2004. Blending physical and digital design, we cr...
-
Logitech
-
Tandem Product Design
With a stellar record of design and engineering successful products with World Class brands since 20...
-
Pq Design Group
PQ Design Group is the preferred partner for ambitious startups and global brands, offering a pragma...
-
Spatial Dynamics
Spatial Dynamics is a hardware product design and development agency located in Cambridge, Massachus...
-
James Owen Design
We've been creating brands, designing and developing new products, and destroying mediocrity for ove...
-
Jackson Hedden Inc
We design unique products for startups, companies, and everything in between. We believe good design...
K
{Welcome
Create a Core77 Account
Already have an account? Sign In
By creating a Core77 account you confirm that you accept the Terms of Use
K
Reset Password
Please enter your email and we will send an email to reset your password.
Comments
Three-part solution:
Use plant sources (transgenic or traditional) to generate long chain polymers, then refine them just as with fossil petroleum. Reduce the amount used by using more concentrates and filtered or solar-distilled tap water wherever possible. Burn trash in high-temperature waste-to-energy incinerators that break the chemicals down to pure elements and simple compounds (no toxics). This eliminates the trucks and energy needed for recycling and adds 24 hour baseload energy to the grid, and uses the atmosphere as the return leg of the cycle. We can't grow enough plants to replace all our fuel, but we can certainly grow enough to replace our plastic.