In many areas of our lives, from packaging to electronic products, black plastic There are a few reasons why it is resilient in the recycling process.
It may seem strange that it cannot be recycled just because of its color, but there are a number of complex reasons behind this situation. scientific and technical obstacles is.
Things get a little tricky with separation technology.

First of all, one of the biggest reasons why black plastic is difficult to recycle is because of the plastic used in recycling facilities. related to optical separation technologies.
Most recycling facilities separate plastics by color and type. infrared (NIR) sensors used. However, because black plastic is usually colored with soot pigment, it absorbs the light coming from these sensors and does not reflect it back.
It is “invisible” doing; Therefore, automatic sorters cannot distinguish black plastic from others and are left behind in the sorting process.
It doesn’t just end with the parsing problem.

Used in black plastics type of raw material It also makes the process difficult. While black is used to cover imperfections, it also masks the different types of plastic that are mixed during the recycling process.
This mixture, which consists of different polymers, is a mixture of recycled materials. has a negative impact on its quality and durability. So when you recycle black plastic, the product you get is often of low quality, both in terms of aesthetics and sustainability.
However, there is no need to be hopeless about this.

If this situation does not continue, this will immediately be the case with black plastics so it doesn’t get lost Work on new technologies continues.
The use of pigments that reflect infrared light is on the agenda and therefore black plastic, standard NIR sensors will become recognisable.
Furthermore, chemical recycling methods can overcome this challenge in the future because these methods can recycle plastics regardless of their type. breaking it down at the molecular level can be converted into reusable raw material.
In conclusion, recycling black plastic, It is complex due to a number of obstacles ranging from color pigments to separation technologies, but we hope that the day when it can be recycled is not far away!
Sources: World Economic Forum, Wrap, Recycle, Science Focus
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