How to Choose the Right Plastic Recycling Machine for Your Waste—Key Tips for Reduction!

A plastic recycling machine is specialized recycling equipment designed to crush industrial plastic waste and consumer plastics, transforming them into reusable raw materials for manufacturing high-value plastic products. This equipment plays a crucial role in reducing plastic waste, minimizing environmental pollution, and helping businesses cut costs. In this article, we will explore the different types of plastic recycling machines and key factors to consider when choosing one. Whether you are a plastic recycler or a manufacturer, you’ll find the ideal solution to support a greener, more sustainable future!
Further Reading：Comprehensive Guide to Pulverizer Applications Principles and Selection Tips

Plastic Recycling Machines: Applications and Business Benefits for Manufacturers

The plastic recycling machine is a piece of mechanical equipment that transforms discarded plastics into reusable raw materials. Plastic recycling not only helps reduce the accumulation of plastic waste in landfills or its flow into the natural environment, thereby minimizing harm to ecosystems such as oceans and rivers, but it also brings significant business advantages to companies. For plastic manufacturers, the benefits of using a plastic recycling machine include:

Space and Cost Savings

Recycling plastic can save a significant amount of storage space, reduce the accumulation of plastic waste, and lower the transportation costs to recycling centers. Moreover, choosing recycled plastic is more cost-effective compared to using new plastic, which can effectively enhance a company’s cost efficiency.

Improved Market Competitiveness

Plastic manufacturers and recyclers typically use plastic recycling machines (also known as plastic recycling machines or plastic pelletizing machines) to process plastic waste. After being processed by these machines, the waste is transformed into reusable pellets that can either be reintegrated into the production line or sold to other manufacturers, creating more business opportunities.

Enhanced Social Image

Using plastic recycling machines significantly reduces reliance on raw materials, helps protect natural resources, and alleviates the environmental impact of extraction and processing. It also supports the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), showcasing the company’s commitment to sustainable development.

Applications and Principles of Plastic Recycling Machines in Taiwan

Currently, only 14% of plastics worldwide are recycled. Of the remaining 86%, only 14% are processed in incinerators and used for power generation, while the other 72% are ultimately buried or discarded into the environment. In contrast, Taiwan has a strong technological advantage in the field of plastic recycling. The complete recycling process not only relies on plastic recycling machine equipment but also requires a high-efficiency turbine crushing system to effectively achieve the resource recovery and reuse of waste plastics.

Crushing and Sorting

Waste plastics are first broken into pieces by the plastic recycling machine and then sorted. This is the first step in the recycling process, aimed at separating the various types of plastics that are mixed together, making subsequent processing easier. The current mechanical sorting technology is similar to the high-speed toll collection system on highways. As the waste plastics pass through the conveyor belt, they are quickly sorted by near-infrared optical identification, typically within one second, to distinguish different types of plastics.

Modification Processing

After being crushed and sorted by the plastic recycling machine, the waste plastics enter the modification stage. Since recycled plastics often suffer from material performance degradation, they need to undergo modification to enhance their quality. The most common method is blending, which involves mixing waste plastics with new plastic materials or other types of plastics. The mixture is then heated and melted, and finally blended and transported using a screw machine to form plastic pellets suitable for further processing.

Plastic Blending

Plastic blending is the process of heating different types of plastics to a molten state and mixing them. The key to this process lies in the design of the screw. Depending on the types of plastics and recycling requirements, the screw design will affect the mixing effect and final quality of the plastics. This is one of the specialized techniques in Taiwan's plastic processing industry.

Recycled Plastics

After modification, the recycled plastics can be further processed into regenerated plastics. These materials have properties similar to those of new plastics and can be used in the production of various plastic products. The modification formula will influence the characteristics, market value, and application fields of regenerated plastics. This not only reduces plastic waste but also provides manufacturers with high-value recycled materials, further promoting sustainable green development.

How to Choose the Right Plastic Recycling Machine Based on Waste Source?

The material source refers to where the recycled material comes from. Depending on the source of the plastic, such as industrial waste plastic or post-consumer plastic, as well as its condition, selecting the appropriate plastic recycling machine model is crucial for achieving optimal recycling results.

Industrial Waste Plastic

Industrial waste plastics typically come from factories. These waste materials are cleaner and drier, making the recycling process relatively simple. It can save time by eliminating the need for extra washing and drying steps, and sometimes even eliminates the need for shredding. The recycling method for this type of plastic waste is also more flexible, requiring only consideration of the waste's shape, size, printing range, and plastic characteristics for processing. Below are the types of plastic recycling machines suitable for industrial waste plastics:

Shredder Drum Plastic Recycling Machine

The plastic recycling machine with a built-in shredding barrel is designed for processing industrial plastic waste, such as roll plastics, plastic film/bag scraps, film fragments, drip irrigation tubes, and PE foam plastic waste. By compacting the waste with the shredding barrel, it enhances recycling efficiency and smoothens the process. The most common type of plastic recycling machine is the "turbine shredder(double shaft shredder)," which can handle both brittle materials and fiber-based plastic waste, effectively improving the recycling outcome.

Blade-type Plastic Recycling Machine

The blade-type coarse shredder feeds raw materials through the inlet, using high-speed rotating crushing blades to generate impact, cutting, and tearing forces, combined with shear force between the teeth plate to crush the raw material. If the material pieces are too large and the impact force exceeds the centrifugal force, the blades will retract to protect the shaft, and this process will continuously cycle, achieving a crushing effect. In addition, the single-shaft shredding integrated plastic recycling machine is suitable for processing industrial plastic waste materials such as yarns, woven bags, non-woven fabrics, and hard plastics that have not been pre-crushed. The integrated shredding blade design makes the recycling process more efficient, eliminating the need for an additional crusher.
Product Recommendations：Hammer Mill

Post-consumer Plastic

Consumer plastics typically reach the end of their life cycle and often come from landfills, dumps, and other waste sites. After water washing and drying, moisture can be reduced, but some residual moisture may still remain. Therefore, it is recommended to include a degassing step, such as using a two-stage plastic recycling machine. Below are the common types of plastic recycling machines:

Shredder Drum Plastic Recycling Machine

The plastic recycling machine for crushing drums is also suitable for post-consumer plastics that have already been washed and dried. The crushing drum effectively removes any remaining moisture. Additionally, since the consumer plastics have already been pre-shredded, the crushing drum can further process the waste, improving the efficiency from the input to the extrusion machine. It is particularly effective for handling dense and loose film scraps. The turbo crusher utilizes the impact force generated by the high-speed rotation of the blades, the ultra-high-speed vortex behind the blades, and the high-frequency vibrating air to achieve recycling through impact and shear, even for post-consumer plastics!
Product Recommendations：Turbo Mill

Vertical Plastic Recycling Machine

The mini plastic recycling machine and hopper-type plastic recycling machine use direct feeding methods, allowing rolled plastic films, pre-cut plastic bags, and plastic scraps to be fed directly into the extruder without the need for additional cutting or pre-treatment. This makes them ideal for processing simple recycling waste. The vertical crusher features specially designed blades and internal toothed plates, capable of handling various materials and easy to clean and maintain. The crushing fineness is uniform and adjustable, with a compact size that doesn't take up much space, making it suitable for processing basic recycling waste.
Product Recommendations：Vertical Mill

Taiwan's Leading Brand in Plastic Recycling – Mill Powder Tech Co., Ltd.

Mill Powder Tech Co., Ltd. not only offers a wide range of professional plastic recycling machine models but also provides a comprehensive turbo mill system. This system integrates various eco-friendly recycling technologies to deliver comprehensive solutions that enhance plastic recycling efficiency. The TM series mills can achieve a grinding fineness of 10 to 40 mesh, and their flexibility allows adjustment based on the specific characteristics of the raw materials, ensuring the fineness meets recycling requirements. The output can be adjusted according to the equipment specifications and the properties of the raw materials, providing optimal recycling efficiency and capacity based on customer needs.

Conclusion

Mill Powder Tech Co., Ltd.'s plastic recycling machine offers numerous advantages, effectively enhancing the recycling efficiency and the quality of regenerated plastics, whether dealing with industrial waste plastics or post-consumer plastics. Through various grinding adjustments, such as modifying motor speed to change particle size distribution, adjusting the gap between blades and teeth, regulating the number of rotating blades, feed speed, and controlling the intake valve of the turbo mill, it can precisely process different material characteristics. This ensures high performance and stable quality in plastic recycling. Contact us now to take your plastic recycling system to the next level of efficiency and environmental sustainability!