When Philips approves the recycled plastic, two challenges remain for the recycled material supplier: keeping the quality of this plastic constant over time, and delivering a regular supply. Yet resources may vary: for example, people throw away more objects to be recycled at Christmas or during the summer, when they have time to sort them. During a sporting event, such as the last Euro soccer championship in 2012, the widespread purchase of state-of-the-art televisions created a sudden rush of old TV sets to be recycled.
Plastic from waste that has been recovered and sorted is cut into flakes and heated before it can be reused. However, these flakes are not all of equal value: their quality and properties must therefore first be determined, before they are mixed with different quality plastics and virgin polymers.
« We measure the quality at the input and output » states Frank Richters, Sales Manager at Veolia Polymers in The Netherlands. This means that Veolia’s recycled plastic is renowned for its constant quality.
