On Sun, 16 Jun 2019 05:32:15 +0700, John B.
wrote:
I recently read something about California having PET bottles with
some code that indicated that they were "refundable" like the glass
beer bottles were in years gone by.
Yes, CRV (California Refund Value).
https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/bevcontainer
https://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/bevcontainer/programinfo/faq
The remaining recycling centers continue to accept CRV recyclables, as
long as the state continues to pay them for the collected materials.
However, since nobody wants the PET bottles, it's unlikely that this
practice will continue.
"Your Recycling Gets Recycled, Right? Maybe, or Maybe Not"
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/climate/recycling-landfills-plastic-papers.html
Other states have similar programs (and problems):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_deposit_legislation_in_the_United_States
Meanwhile, recycling in Mexico looks promising:
https://mxmarketintelligence.wordpress.com/2019/02/12/mexicos-plastics-recycling-industry/
As I said, PET bottles are readily re-sellable here so apparently the
recycling industry is alive and well. As Frank has noted one reason
for the re-cycling business in the U.S. being less than profitable is
the difficulty of designing machines for separating the garbage into
various categories.
Near IR scanners are common and seem to work well with shredded
plastics:
https://oceanoptics.com/plastic-recycling-nir-spectroscopy/
https://www.nrtsorters.com/markets/plastics/
The problem is not identifying the various plastics, but rather the
handling of the plastic. There are a few colored plastic bottles with
pigments that tend to fool the scanners.
Here, on the ether hand, where wages are
significantly lower than "THERE", hand separation is well and
thriving. In fact, some years ago , I worked on a garbage recycling
project where the raw garbage was to be simply dumped onto long
conveyer belts and hand picked by multitudes of people.
"Santa Cruz Recycles Video" (2009)
https://youtu.be/jcIDCbXZklY (9:23)
Hand sorting starts at 4:28. The sorting is currently being done
mostly by the mentally disabled.
--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060
http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558