This study presents the findings from
a study on the consumption of recycled materials and recycling practices in the
plastics manufacturing industry and recycling companies in Malaysia.
The
findings were obtained from a survey conducted in twenty plastic manufacturing
companies and detailed case studies in three recycling companies. The survey
conducted in the plastic manufacturing companies’ shows that the consumption
rate for poly-olefins (PP and PE) is the highest among the resin types and the
industrial sector that consumes the most plastic materials is the electrical
and electronics sector.
The consumption of recycled materials is high among the
local manufacturing companies (80%) which are largely due to cost savings;
about 20% of these companies conducted in-house recycling. The study has also
shown that the medium scale industry consumes the most recycled materials as
compared to the large and small scale industry.
The rate of disposal for
plastic materials in the local industry is approximately 5%. The detailed case
studies conducted in the recycling companies have successfully identified the
main processes involved in plastic recycling namely manual sorting, cleaning,
drying, meshing/pelletizing and packaging. These recycling companies obtained
recycled materials from various sources including industrial scrap, dumping
sites, local producers as well as imported sources.
Pricing of recycled
materials were based on classification according to grade and quality of the
recycled materials. The study has reflected the extent of in-house recycling
trends in the local plastic manufacturing companies and their dependency on the
supply from the local recycling companies.
