The packaging, which is formed by combining the materials used for the protection, transportation, storage and presentation of the products to the consumer, ensures the protection of the products from external factors. Packaging waste recycling is the process of collecting, processing and reusing used packaging materials. This process helps to protect natural resources and create a sustainable cycle in production, while minimizing the damage caused by packaging waste to the environment.
Used packages are considered as packaging waste. Thanks to packaging waste recycling, used packaging can be reused in various recycling processes. Re-use of these wastes in production is supported with the Regulation on Control of Packaging Wastes, which came into force in 2017 in our country.
What is Packaging Waste Recovery?
The packaging waste recycling process covers the collection, processing and reuse of used packaging materials. This process helps to protect natural resources while minimizing the environmental damage caused by packaging waste. A sustainable cycle can also be created by recycling packaging waste.
What is the Importance of Packaging Waste Recovery?
Packaging wastes are among the environmentally harmful wastes as they do not dissolve in nature for a long time. For this reason, it is extremely important for the environment to recycle packaging waste and reuse it in production. The importance of packaging waste recycling can be listed as follows:
Recycles packaging waste, resulting in a reduction in new packaging production. This helps to save energy.
It enables the creation of new employment areas in the facilities with the recycling of packaging waste. In this way, it can contribute to the economy.
By reducing the amount of waste, the need for raw materials in new products can be minimized.
It plays an important role in the process of protecting natural resources by reducing carbon emissions.
How to Recycle Packaging Waste?
The following steps are generally followed for the packaging waste recycling process, which is carried out with special equipment in recycling facilities:
Used packaging waste is disposed of in containers designed for recycling or at recycling points. Packaging waste types are delivered to recycling facilities after collection.
Collected packaging wastes are separated according to their types in recycling facilities. At this stage, different types of packaging materials such as plastic, paper, glass, metal are separated and grouped. Separation can be performed automatically or manually.
Separated packaging wastes are cleaned from external factors such as oil and dirt with special methods.
Packaging materials that are separated and cleaned are subjected to the processing process. This process includes the proper preparation of materials. Plastic packages are melted, paper packages are ground, glass packages are broken into granules and metal packages are crushed.
After processing, packaging waste is made reusable through reuse or recycling.
