Recycling is a process that takes sophisticated engineering and
systems innovation. It was truly fascinating watching how efficiently and
accurately machines sort consumer packaging for recycling.
It is also impressive
to see that bottles and cartons no longer have to be hand sorted because of the
use of infra red technology, sink float tests, and precise blasts of compressed
air. This in turn, eliminates the human error in the sorting and recycling process.
The manufacturing processes shown in the ‘How It’s Made:
Packaging’ series are also very impressive to see for the first time. It’s
amazing to think that we watch manufacturing process in slow motion; the machinery
works at super-efficient high speeds e.g. 10,600 plastic water bottles per
hour.
It also very comforting to see that the manufacturers of
packaging complete various safety tests/procedures to ensure the contents of
the packaging remains safe for consumption e.g.
Spraying water based varnish on inside of aluminium cans to prevent
metal taste.
Although the two sets of video clip were very insightful and
interesting, there were however some points that I found concerning.
For example, in the Discovery channel video clip, recycling
and trash are picked up by garbage men in garbage trucks, then transported to
the Davis Street Transfer Centre, then tipper trucks pile and feed unsorted
recycling materials into the mile long machine, and then the unusable (trash)
is again transported, 31 miles to become landfill.
Surely there must be a way to decrease the number of times
that unusable trash is transported, sorted and piled e.g. garbage trucks dump
directly into the mile long machine eliminating the use of bull dozers OR
combining the household garbage pickup with the post recycling garbage pick up
to prevent several 31 mile trips to the landfill area.
There is also the issue that many developing countries may
not have the economy to afford the large scale, expensive recycling factories. I believe that in these countries re-use of
materials is of higher importance than recycling and its processes
The three take home messages for me, (apart from how
impressed I was with the manufacturing and engineering aspects of the videos)
were:
“Properly separated is half recycled”... “Plastics
can be recycled most efficiently if they are separated homogeneously”.
2.
Never doubt the potential of a product at the
end of its consumer life. The videos showed how much potential there is in
recycling packaging into new raw materials, using off cuts and scraps for
fillers, and using fumes from buried waste to extract methane gas powering
thousands of homes. ALWAYS RECYCLE (or reuse)
3.
Designers have an abundance of materials to
choose from when designing packaging, from paper to card, PET to Polypropylene;
however packaging designers must be fully aware of the impacts that these materials
have on the environment, and the processes that must be undertake to give the
packaging new life. It is the designers responsibility to properly research how
their chosen material and design will be retrieved and recycled.
Peter Calaitzopoulos
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