Recycle white cork

polyexpan

Spain is the second largest producer of cork in the world and has a quarter of the world in cork oaks. Therefore, having the habit of recycle white cork It can be a great way to support this industry and improve our environment. Cork is in danger because it is often replaced by synthetic materials. When cork oaks are not economically useful they are in danger and can be a threat.

Therefore, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about recycling white cork, its characteristics and importance.

Recycle white cork

recycle white cork to container

As stated by Ecoembes (Spain's packaging recycling management system), consumers should store products made with natural cork in organic packaging, brown packaging, so as not to hinder packaging recycling, but they guarantee that they receive very few cork stoppers. The recycling company is then responsible for managing it and sending it to a controlled landfill or some energy recovery system.

Corks that have been used cannot be reused, especially if they contain liquid or leave residues in contact with food or other organic or inorganic materials, because they have deteriorated or have come into contact with product residues and the industry cannot accept them again. Although it can be recycled, that is, the material can be used after proper treatment.

However, glass or container recycling systems are lacking, although there is some experience in this field, there is currently no good structure to recycle cork, which is currently expensive and can cause more pollution.

Recycling unused cork has both environmental and economic benefits. It assumes resource conservation, conversion or transportation. In addition, when natural cork can be recycled or even used, in addition to the advantages already mentioned, the industry will also generate green jobs.

Although it is still impossible to recycle used natural cork stoppers, we offer you several ideas to reuse cork stoppers, one of the most used products from this material are cork stoppers.

Key features

recycle white cork

White cork or expanded polystyrene (EPS), also known as polystyrene or polystyrene, is a foamed plastic material derived from polystyrene, used in the manufacture of containers and packaging or as a thermal and acoustic insulating material.

Among its features they highlight lightness, hygiene, resistance to humidity, resistance to salt, resistance to acids or fats, and the ability to absorb shocks, making it an ideal material for packaging fragile products. Also, since it is not a nutritious substrate for microorganisms, it will not rot, mold or decompose. This makes it an ideal material for the packaging of fresh products, so we can easily find products in a tray format in vegetables, fruits, butchers, fishmongers or ice cream parlors. In supermarkets we can easily find it in the form of trays in fishmongers, butchers, fruits, vegetables and ice cream parlors.

How to recycle white cork

biodegradable

White cork or polystyrene is a completely recyclable and 100% reusable material. With it, you can form blocks of the same material and make raw materials for other products. After use, it should be stored in a yellow container dedicated to plastic containers.

Three main recycling methods are known for white cork:

  • The main recycling method has been used for decades, which includes mechanically shredding the material and then mixing it with new materials to form EPS blocks that contain up to 50% recycled material.
  • Another technology currently used for recycling is mechanical densification, which consists of applying thermal and mechanical energy to the foam to convert it into more compact and easier-to-handle particles.
  • As well New methods of dissolving foam in different solvents are being studied to facilitate its handling.

The place where the white cork is recycled is the yellow container. As we all know, a large amount of plastic waste, cans, aluminum trays, plastic bags, etc. can be found in this container. That is why the best place to store polyexpan waste is the yellow container. Recycling companies will soon dispose of it and make new uses for it.

Cork sector in Spain

As we said, Spain is one of the main cork producers in the world, and the main cork oak forests are found on the Mediterranean coast, Extremadura and Andalusia. The cork industry is a special industry that even benefits biodiversity, because the disappearance of the cork oak will cause serious damage to the environment. For instance, the biodiversity of hundreds of animal and plant species will be affected, the natural environment will be more susceptible to erosion and desertification, the ability to absorb carbon dioxide will be lost, the employment rate in rural areas will decline, or the beautiful Mediterranean landscape will be destroyed.

According to the person in charge, there are about 3.000 employees in the industry. In addition to producing bottle caps (85% of the turnover), different industries also use cork for its insulating properties, buoyancy and lightness.

Recycling of polyexpan

After understanding where the white cork was thrown away, we began to understand how the white cork recycling process works. Currently, there are up to three methods to recycle white cork.

The former is the most popular and has been in production for many years. This method consists of dividing the white cork into smaller parts. The main reason is that in the future new small parts will be assembled to make new white cork blocks. It should be noted that this process is one of the fastest and most effective in terms of recycling.

It is worth mentioning that, compared to the previous process, in most cases it is estimated that 50% of the new white cork blocks will be recycled cork stoppers. In this way we continue our discussion of the second method. The process is based on mechanical densification.

Finally, the method of using chemicals as solvents is introduced. It has the same purpose as the previous method, which uses chemicals to facilitate the transport of the new white cork.

I hope that with this information you can learn more about how to recycle white cork.


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