{"id":18604,"date":"2018-10-19T06:30:15","date_gmt":"2018-10-19T10:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quantumlifecycle.com\/staging\/the-challenges-of-recycling-plastic\/"},"modified":"2023-09-06T15:35:41","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T19:35:41","slug":"the-challenges-of-recycling-plastic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quantumlifecycle.com\/en_CA\/blog\/the-challenges-of-recycling-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"The Challenges of Recycling Plastic"},"content":{"rendered":"
Plastic<\/a> has become ubiquitous in our world. It has been found just about everywhere on earth, even inside mosquitoes<\/u><\/span><\/a>. Since it was first developed, 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic<\/u><\/span><\/a> have been produced, which is enough to cover the country of Argentina ankle deep.<\/p>\n Plastics fall into two broad categories: thermoplastics, which can be melted down repeatedly, and thermosets, which cannot be remelted once they are set. There are seven main groups of plastic based on chemical makeup but dozens of different types of plastic. Plastics can be classified by chemical structure, the chemical process used to synthesize them, physical properties and chemical properties.<\/p>\n Plastic is one of the most significant constituents of e-waste<\/a>; it represents approximately 30 percent of residential e-waste by weight, according to Gary Diamond, CEO of Quantum. There are an incredible number of varieties of plastic used in products. One consumer electronics unit may contain dozens of different polymers. Unlike metals, many of which can be heated and melted down together during recycling<\/a>, e-waste plastics<\/a> melt at different temperatures and would contaminate one another if combined.<\/p>\nWhy Plastic Recycling Is Difficult<\/h2>\n