Plastic recycling
In Hong Kong, plastic made up the third largest component of MSW, about 21% as much as 90 double-decker buses. Plastic waste was disposed to landfill more than 2,343 tonnes per day in 2018. Although plastic brings us convenience to a certain degree, it is extremely resilient and needs 400-500 years to degrade in nature, leads to a huge threat to the ecological environment. Also, the micro-plastic beads and BPA which may enter the food chain. The potential risk problems are threaten our public health.
Do you know what is the recycling numbers find on the plastic?
The recycling numbers usually found at the bottom of the containers, which is a reference to the type of plastic. The recycling code constitutes of the numbers 1 to 7. Also, there are some abbreviations for the plastic type (PETE, HDPE, etc.).
The table below can help you to separate different plastics easily.
In addition, the following links list the public waste paper collection points in Hong Kong:
1. Collector/Recycler Recycling Organisations
2. Collection Points Waste
3. Separation Bin Community Recycling Network
4. Community Green Stations
Life cycle of a plastic product
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Watch the video to know more on plastic recycling!
The plastic bottles brought to the factory are cut into flakes, washed, cleaned and transformed into small plastic pellets. The pellets are strong and lightweight.
The pellets are placed into an extruder that melts the plastic pellets, different molds are used for different shapes, such as a water bottle, milk container, soda bottle, etc.
Note: Source-
PLASTICITY
https://greenearth.org.hk/en/plastic/
What can be recycled and Collection Points
https://www.wastereduction.gov.hk/en/assistancewizard/recyc_note.htm