4 ms·
Having worked in a plastics factory (it's where I learned how to properly troubleshoot things, injection molding is fun) we recycled the runners or bad parts in
by I_Am_Nous 3y ago
Having worked in a plastics factory (it's where I learned how to properly troubleshoot things, injection molding is fun) we recycled the runners or bad parts in house. Toss them in the grinder, blend them with a certain amount of virgin material, and it doesn't really affect the parts until you start getting past the 80/20 blends (if I remember correctly and this was about 11 years ago so some things may have changed).
But this is all relatively clean, fresh from the mold plastic. It didn't sit in a shipping container in the heat for months, degrading. It didn't absorb any number of oils or contaminants. I imagine a dirtier recycled plastic would require more virgin material to maintain the intended strength/material properties, so where the recycled plastic comes from is likely just as important as what you are trying to use it for.