Recycling Scrap: Waste Is the Underlying Issue
Here at Seraphim Plastics, we buy and sell scrap plastic. We are an industrial plastic recycling firm that takes waste generated by other companies and turns it into a useful product. When you get right down to it, that’s all recycling really is. It is a process of dealing with waste without throwing it away.
Even if sustainability were not an issue, waste would still be waste. Not even the ability to create bottomless landfill pits would change things. Waste is the underlying issue. Everything we can do to reduce or eliminate it is a good thing. That’s why we have chosen to engage in plastic recycling on an industrial level.
Waste Is Something to Avoid
By its very definition, waste is something we generally consider negative. Waste costs money that would otherwise not be spent. It is the impetus for disposing of things we no longer need or want. The great thing about it is that landfill disposal and incineration are not the only two options for dealing with waste. Some types of waste can be reused as-is. Other types can be repurposed. Still other waste, like industrial plastic, can be recycled.
The point we are trying to make is that waste is something to avoid. So perhaps your company doesn’t pay a whole lot of attention to recycling for the simple fact that your business model doesn’t call for it. We get that. We run a business too. But wouldn’t it be worth the minimal effort recycling plastic waste requires to be able to contribute to reducing the overall waste stream? We think it is.
The World Wastes A Lot
We look at what we do in Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and the other four states we operate in as just a small contribution to reducing global waste. Truth be told, the world wastes an awful lot. Those of us in the West tend to be a bit more wasteful thanks to our ability to master cheap manufacturing and logistics. But just because we can be wasteful doesn’t mean we should be.
A lot of the waste the world generates is completely unnecessary. We work with plastics, so let us talk about them. The big reason industrial plastic recycling is economically viable is that we are dealing with pure and clean plastics. We are not dealing with mixed materials that require a tremendous amount of labor to sort, process, and recover.
The same is not true for consumer plastics. Look at local curbside recycling programs. They are not cost-efficient because of the labor involved. But if we manufactured consumer plastics the same way we manufacture industrial plastics, things might be different.
Reduce Where We Can
Waste is an integral part of the human experience. It is part of the cycle of nature. Therefore, it is impossible to completely eliminate all of it. But we can reduce it to some degree. We ought to.
We can reduce waste by finding ways to produce less of it. We can further reduce it by reusing and recycling as much as possible. We are doing our part at Seraphim Plastics by purchasing industrial scrap plastic and converting it into regrind our customers can use to make new things.
If you would like to do your part to reduce America’s waste stream, consider utilizing commercial plastic recycling as either a seller or buyer. As a seller, let us take your plastic waste off your hands. As a buyer, consider recycled regrind as a supplement to virgin plastic. Either way, you will be contributing to a greater effort to reduce waste.