Every day, we use nearly half a billion plastic straws! That adds up to a lot of plastic.
While most businesses aren’t necessarily using plastic straws in their operations, many of them are using other types of plastic. Think plastic packaging, containers, and bottles.
If you’re in this boat, you might want to think of installing a plastic baler on your property. Here’s why you need a plastic baler for plastic recycling.
What Is a Plastic Baler?
Before we jump into the benefits of plastic recyclers, let’s talk about what a plastic baler is. Plastic balers are machines that condense plastics into bales that can then be removed from the property or sold.
You can use plastic baling in various ways around both the office and the home. A plastic recycling baler machine keeps the plastic in its raw form so that you can reuse the materials and prevent the plastic from damaging the environment.
Plastic balers come in both vertical and horizontal styles, and both are great for baling plastic. These balers help compact plastics into tight, dense bales that stick together and don’t spring back into their original shape.
Types of Balers
There are a few different types of recycling balers that you can choose from. Even though they all share the same basic purpose, they each work a little bit differently. Let’s take a look at these types of balers.
Vertical Balers
Vertical balers are a type of baler that’s ideal for smaller facilities that don’t process a huge volume of materials for baling. These balers usually have a total output of about 455 kilograms.
You’ll most commonly find vertical balers for use with cardboard. Retail stores that produce a lot of cardboard often have one of these balers on hand to help them maximize space.
If you’re using a vertical baler, you’ll need to be prepared to do a little bit of work. These balers don’t tie your bales, so you’ll need to manually tie them to keep them held together.
Horizontal Balers
Another type of baler is a horizontal baler. Typically, high production settings such as recycling centres, material recovery facilities, and distribution centres use these types of balers.
Horizontal balers are ideal for companies that have an output of more than 100 tons of plastics each month. They can produce thirty times as many bales as a vertical baler every hour and use a greater thrust to help compress the materials and produce the bales.
What’s great about these balers is that they automatically tie the bales of plastics. You don’t have to put forth any effort on your part to get the bales packaged up and sent out to a recycling facility.
Because horizontal balers are so large, however, they’re not ideal for smaller businesses. They’re best for large companies that have plenty of space and monetary resources to use on this type of baler.
Mini Balers
The third type of baler you can invest in is called a mini baler. Mini balers, as you might imagine, don’t have the same output capacity as vertical or horizontal balers.
However, they’re ideal for handling small volumes of recyclable materials. A few examples of items you can put through a mini baler include aluminium cans, cardboard boxes, and plastic shrinkwrap.
These balers are great for companies that primarily recycle just a small volume of recyclable materials. Since your output isn’t likely large enough to warrant a vertical or horizontal baler, a mini baler might be a better choice.
Another benefit of mini balers is that they offer more flexibility. You don’t have to worry about setting aside huge chunks of money or space to start baling the plastics that your company uses.
Types Of Plastic
Aside from understanding the different types of balers out there, it’s also important to understand the types of plastics you might come across. Let’s take a look at a few of the plastics you could recycle with a baler.
PET
PET stands for polyethene terephthalate. This type of plastic mostly makes up cosmetic containers, water bottles, soda bottles, and medicine containers.
HDPE
High-density polyethene, more commonly referred to as HDPE, is another type of plastic you’ll find in many businesses. This plastic generally makes up toys, oil bottles, milk jugs, outdoor containers, and food containers.
PVC
Most of us are familiar with PVC plastic because of its use in PVC pipes. However, it’s also used in several other products.
PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride and makes up ducts, tiles, grocery bags, and gutters. Many businesses have a large amount of PVC as part of their business byproducts.
LDPE
LDPE, or low-density polyethene, is a plastic that’s used in plastic wrap, shrink wrap, and shopping bags. Companies that use a lot of packaging for their products typically produce a high amount of LDPE plastic.
PP
Polypropylene, often called PP, is another type of plastic that many of us are familiar with. Many bottle caps, yoghurt and margarine tubs, carpets, and medicine bottles contain polypropylene plastic.
PS
PS, or polystyrene, is a plastic that makes up styrofoam. Since coffee cups, packing foam, plastic food boxes, and plastic cutlery all contain this type of plastic, it’s one of the most common types of plastic you’ll find in office-based businesses.
Other Plastics
There are plenty of other plastics that aren’t listed above. These plastics include acrylic, polycarbonate, styrene, nylon, acrylonitrile butadiene, and fibreglass.
These plastics can generally be found in fixtures, plastic food containers, and reusable water jugs. They’re plastics that are very common around the house.
Why You Need a Plastic Baler
Now that you’ve got a good idea of what plastic balers are, what types of balers are out there, and what types of plastics you might come across, let’s talk about why you need a plastic baler. Here are a few reasons why you should get a plastic baler.
Plastic Balers Save Money
When you use a plastic baler, you can save a huge amount of money. This is because when you use a baler, you can recycle your own plastic materials.
Instead of throwing money down the drain on disposable plastics, you can earn some of it back by baling your plastics and sending them to a recycling centre. This can help you cut back on your waste costs by a huge amount.
Save Your Company Time
When you’re producing tons of plastic waste, you have to start flat packing it. That way you can store the plastic until garbage day comes around without taking up too much space.
Plastic balers, on the other hand, save you time on flat packing because they do the compression for you. These machines save you tons of time in getting bulky plastics out of your way so you can focus on your regular business operations.
Save Yourself Space
Mounds of plastic can quickly take up important space in your business. Suddenly, you’re at a loss for where to store all the piling up plastics!
With a plastic baler, you can save space by compacting and recycling your plastics. And, you don’t need to have as many bins placed around the property since you’re regularly baling and recycling your plastic products.
Reduce Your Environmental Impact
Probably the most important reason why you should use plastic balers is that they produce less waste that winds up in landfills. Instead, the plastics that you put through the baler get recycled and turned into new products.
On top of that, by reducing the number of products that you ship off to a landfill, you reduce the need for waste management. That helps save time, money, and the planet all at once!
Reduce Dangers
Plastic materials can actually pose several health risks. Some types of plastics are toxic or are fire hazards. By recycling plastics with a plastic baler, you can reduce those risks on your company property.
Stay Compliant
Finally, businesses have to stay compliant with several legal and tax requirements surrounding waste management. By recycling your plastics, you can reduce your taxes and ensure you’re staying compliant with government regulations.
Transform Your Business With a Plastic Baler
Having a plastic baler in your business can be a great way to reduce the environmental impact that your company has. Plastic balers help you put plastics into compact, dense bales that you can then ship off for recycling.
So, are you ready to get started with an efficient plastic baler for your company? Get in touch with our team, and we’ll get you hooked up with a plastic recycler.
