What happens after we put PET (Triangle number 1) plastic in the yellow bin on Menorca?

 Polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate, polyethylene terephthalate or PET is a type of thermoplastic polymer, or commonly a type of plastic, which is obtained synthetically from petroleum. It is a recyclable but not biodegradable material, widely used in beverage and textile packaging. The containers of this material that are deposited in the yellow containers of Menorca arrive at the Milà sorting plant where they are classified and packed for shipment to recycling companies in Spain.

Here are photos and text to explain the process!

1. From the offices of the plant in Valencia (this is the one Menorca sends the plastic to) you can see a large area of ​​bales from different selection plants in Spain, which are first untied and then unraveled at a rate of 4 tons / hour.

2. The discarded bottles then go through a magnet to remove the metal parts and through a label scraper.

 

3. The first selection of the bottles is made through a ballistic separator that separates them according to their size, density and shape (rolling and non-rolling).

4. Next, a second separation is performed by type of material using infrared, and by color using artificial vision. It is at this time when the process lines are duplicated and a first manual quality control is carried out. This duplication of lines is very important in order not to stop the plant in the event of possible breakdowns or scheduled maintenance..

5. Both process lines go to a wet mill where the bottles are crushed and the first washing of the material is carried out.

 

6. The resulting product is blown off and directed to the beginning of the wash belt where the labels and caps are first separated by flotation. The caps are only centrifuged and stored for sale, since it is a material with a lot of output that can be paid at € 200 / ton on average.

7. The material then goes through two stages of washing at 85-90ºC and centrifugation. Detergent and antifoam are used in the wash, which is eliminated in the rinse. The water is filtered and recirculated in the process, while the residual batch, approximately 40 tons / month with 50% humidity, is destined for composting.

8. Finally, a quality control is carried out on each 1,000 kg bag of PET LIGHT BLUE flakes, to determine the purity of the material prior to marketing.

  

PET LIGHT BLUE flakes are extruded to make reels of PET foil that will be the base material to produce new PET containers.
 

 
 

I am still a little confused as to what happens to HDPE (triangle number 2) Plastic and PS (triangle number 6) Polystyrene it looks like more investigation is needed!

The blog song for today is: "Confusion" by ELO (electric light orchestra)

TTFN