BRAINCAKERecycling
Recycling reuses waste polymers instead of sending them to landfill. There are two main approaches.
Mechanical recycling: the waste is collected and sorted into the different types of polymer, often using the numbered resin identification codes printed on products. Each type is washed, shredded into flakes, then melted and remoulded into new products, such as fleece clothing made from drinks bottles. This only works for polymers that soften on heating (thermoplastics).
Feedstock (chemical) recycling: waste polymers are heated to break them down (cracking) into monomers or small hydrocarbon molecules. These are used as feedstock to make new polymers and other chemicals. Mixed or dirty plastic can be used.
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More in Alkenes
- Electrophilic Addition of Hydrogen Halides
- Unsymmetrical Molecules
- Addition Polymerisation
- Identifying the Monomer
- Identifying the Repeating Group
- Polymer Waste
- Incineration
- Biodegradable Polymers
All 19 lessons in Alkenes · All Edexcel AS-level Chemistry topics