Latest Green News

Going green: Infoplastics is now in Nairobi

mercoledì 30 gennaio 2008

Why Recycle Plastic Companies Prefer Working With Hdpe

by Muna Wa Wanjiru

Companies that recycle plastic recover the material and reprocess it in any other useful form, transforming plastic drink bottles, for instance, into toys or some other useful item. Before being recycled, plastic must be sorted according to a resin identification code, thus, drink pets have code 1, for instance. However, one of the the biggest recycling problems is that melted plastic doesn't mix easily, it must be the same kind of plastic for the blending process to be a real success.

Different types of plastic tend to dissolve separately like oil and water, and they won't simply mix. The recent appearance of biodegradable materials changed the recycle plastic equation by the impact brought on the re-processing costs. When some of this new type of plastic gets mixed with the classical one, it will decrease the price significantly.

In an effort to implement recycle plastic principles a technological process has been developed to use plastic as a source of carbon in the process of recovering steel scraps. Another idea that has gained popularity in Australia, Japan and the USA is called heat compression.

All unsorted plastic is put in some large rotating drums, the precess generates heat friction from the plastic parts rubbing against each other, and thus all the plastic items get mixed together no matter their nature. Criticism to this procedure appeared soon afterwards, and voices claim that the amount of energy used to rotate the drums is too high.

Recycle plastic companies prefer working with HDPE (High-density polyethylene), a more expensive plastic that takes 1.75 kg of petroleum per kilo in the manufacturing process. This is used for creating durable plastics and enjoys popularity and high demands on the market; moreover, the environmental advantage here is that this form of recycling means less waste, less carbon and sulfur dioxide.

When you recycle plastic more technological difficulties are likely to appear as compared to the re-processing of paper or metallic materials because of those code numbers associated with the type of plastic. People usually neither know the difference between these codes nor which of the items can actually be recycled.

Muna wa Wanjiru Has Been Researching and Reporting on Recycling for Years. For More Information on Recycle Plastic, Visit His Site at RECYCLE PLASTIC

About the Author

Muna wa Wanjiru Has Been Researching and Reporting on Recycling for Years. For More Information on Recycle Plastic, Visit His Site at RECYCLE PLASTIC

International Rubber and Plastics Exhibitions

Between March 4 - 6
Plastics USA 2008
Exhibition in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Society of the Plastics Industry +1 202 974 5235 (fax +1 202 296 7243, web site

Between March 21 - 23
11th PPPEXPO Kenya.
Plastics, printing and packaging exhibition in Nairobi, Kenya. Web site

Recycling: UK to have world’s largest bottle reprocessing unit


Alternative Waste Solutions
UK has received funding of GBP 2m (EUR 2.7m) to initiate a GBP 14m to expand its bottle recycling plant in Hemswell, Lincolnshire. The project will increase the plant’s annual capacity from 20,000 t to 100,000 t and will include food grade capability for both HDPE and PET. Start-up of the enlarged facility, which is expected to be the largest of its type in the world, is scheduled for the end of 2008, with full capacity being reached before the end of 2009.

martedì 29 gennaio 2008

Recycling Toner Cartridges: Is It Worth The Effort?

Recycling Toner Cartridges: Is It Worth The Effort? by John Synder

Millions of businesses, schools and other organizations around the world purchase and use billions of printer and copier toner cartridges every year. Toner cartridges are just another item on the laundry list of things that humans use and commonly throw away, but why? Anyone who has ever changed the toner in a copy machine or printer knows that it is usually a very large, bulky plastic container which gets changed once a week or month and then has no use to you whatsoever afterwards. Although it may not be of use to you personally or your company, there are benefits to hanging on to toner cartridges and contributing them to a recycler or remanufacturer.

When you recycle your toner cartridges, you should first take a moment to pat yourself on the back for your valiant efforts helping to reduce pollution and make the world a better place for everyone on it. When you're finished with that it's time to put on your capitalist hat and get moving because there are financial benefits to recycling toner cartridges too. There are companies that refill and sell previously used toner cartridges that will pay a few dollars per cartridges for your empties. You probably won’t become rich turning in your old cartridges, just like you won’t by recycling cans, but coupled with a few other financial benefits, you might begin to see why recycling is worth it.

If you want to recycle toner cartridges, first you need to use them. If this does not apply to you then you should probably skip the reading and start picking up cans. Seriously though, if you use one or two toner cartridges per year, you should still recycle them but your will probably not see much reason to sell them to a remanufacturer. It may also be difficult to get them to purchase just one or two from you. Most remanufacturers are looking to purchase from large companies that can send them pallets or even truckloads once every month or two. Otherwise you can donate your empties to a charity that is collecting them to sell in bulk to remanufacturers in order to make money for their organization. This is a common fundraiser for schools, churches, youth organizations and others. If it is not available in your community, you might want to suggest it within a charity or non-profit you are affiliated with.

Where most individuals will see the greatest benefit of recycled toner cartridges is in purchasing remanufactured ones. Professional, quality refilled cartridges can be much less expensive than new name brand ones and often just as good. When purchasing these, however, make sure it is a reputable remanufacturer that gives some form of guarantee with their product both for its malfunction and any damage it could cause to your machine. This is especially important because most manufacturers of printers and copiers will only warranty malfunction caused by their machine and their print cartridges. As long as the remanufacturer does a quality job, you will probably find that the best reason to recycle toner cartridges is to buy them again refilled, as good as new and much less expensive.

About the Author

Find the high quality low price replacement Epson printer cartridges by visiting http://www.findinkcartridges.com, a popular inkjet printer website that specializes in inkjet printer reviews, ratings and advice on selecting high quality discount printer cartridges for your printer.

venerdì 25 gennaio 2008

Gulf plastic futures to be launched

Plastics traders and consumers are hoping the launch of a new plastics futures contract in Dubai will offer a useful hedging tool and greater price transparency.

The contract would ensure success where London’s LME has so far failed, they believe.
The bourse hopes to launch four contracts next month in low-density polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, linear low-density polyethylene, and polypropylene.

For each grade, there will be three regional contracts: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia and the Middle East

Read this News here

giovedì 24 gennaio 2008

info Plastics: plastics and rubber industry

Plastic recycling is increasingly becoming common around the world. Waste plastic products and packaging make up a growing portion of wastes in most towns.
Over the past two decades, recycling of plastics has dramatically increased. After years of predictions that plastics recycling would never be widespread because processes were inefficient, too expensive or not practical, the tide of waste headed to the landfill is slowly being turned.

Types of recycled plastics


Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET)
High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE)
Polypropylene (PP)
Polystyrene (PS)
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
Other Resins
Commingled Bottles
Polyurethane