Recycling of a plastic bottle today is a rather urgent task, and the business in this area can be called very promising. This is due to the spread and widespread use of such containers in all sectors of the national economy. That is why it is worth evaluating the technological process of processing, the cost of the equipment used for this, as well as the markets for the resulting raw materials.

The urgency of the problem

Statistics show that every year a person throws out about 300 kilograms of various garbage, a third of which are plastic bottles. Used containers are no less valuable than glass bottles or waste paper. In the process of processing such waste, a material is obtained from which flex is made in the form of plastic flakes. And he, in turn, is suitable for the subsequent manufacture of containers.

It turns out that recycling a plastic bottle is a waste-free production, because plastic is made of flex, and vice versa. In addition, such an idea justifies itself completely from an ecological point of view, since it takes 300 years for the complete decomposition of the polymer, no less.

Modern tendencies

Recycling plastic bottles as a business is a great idea, as it can make a pretty good profit, but only if the business plan is competently drawn up, and also if the required amount of money is available. The organization of such an enterprise is quite expensive. The main points here concern the search for a suitable premises, the establishment of the supply of raw materials, as well as the search for sales markets. This business is not only profitable, but also quite rewarding. In addition, the recycling of plastic bottles is not yet very developed in the CIS countries, so you will not have much competition.

Main technological stages

You can consider the recycling process that takes place in such an enterprise.

At the first stage, the bottles are collected and sorted. There are no difficulties here, and this process will be considered in more detail later. It is worth noting only one thing: at this stage, an uninterrupted supply of raw materials with its further sorting should be established.

Shredding

The second stage is crushing. Here you will already need certain equipment for processing a plastic bottle, namely, a special crushing plant. Sorted raw materials are placed in it, which is crushed to obtain flakes of 0.8-1.2 cm in size at the output, it all depends on which grate is used in the installation. This is the very flex. Further, this crushed mass is thoroughly washed with caustic soda. A plastic bottle recycling line directs all of this to a centrifuge, where pieces of paper labels are separated from the bulk. The flotation process removes rings and caps as well as labels made of polypropylene. The flex is rinsed again, this time using pure water, and then placed in a tube dryer, where a stream of hot air provides drying. At the end, a plastic bottle recycling machine unloads and packs the flex. As such, the material is already commercially available. But you can use a slightly different technology.

Agglomeration and Granulation

The third stage is agglomeration. Sometimes this technology for processing plastic bottles is also used. This is a simple procedure. The crushed mass is exposed to high-temperature influences, as a result of which it cakes and turns into small lumps. These lumps can be sold as ready-made raw materials, or they can be granulated, due to which they are "improved".

The fourth stage is granulation. You can already see how versatile plastic bottle recycling can be. The technology in this case involves the subsequent processing of raw materials. This significantly increases its quality and purity, which makes it possible to increase the cost of the product. Granulation is often called briquetting, the essence of this process is that the crushed mass turns into pieces of the correct shape, that is, a kind of granules with the same size and weight. This is done this way: the particles are compacted under insignificant pressure, since there may be voids between them. After this, the deformation of the particles themselves occurs, due to which they adhere at the molecular level. The final stage involves increasing the pressure in order to transform the elastic modification into plastic one. The result is the production of solid granules of the same shape.

Even taking into account the fact that the equipment for these purposes is quite expensive, it is quite possible to open such a business. The processing line alone costs around 130 thousand dollars. But that's the price to pay for how beneficial the recycling of plastic bottles is. A business plan for such a plant should be drawn up on the basis of a specific project in order to demonstrate it to potential investors.

First of all, you need to register a company. It is worth noting that this type of activity will be recognized as trade in small products, so it can be started even before the IP is opened. Next, you need to take care of a suitable premises, purchase or rent equipment for processing a plastic bottle. But it's worth considering everything in order. To begin with, you need to obtain a license for this kind of activity, as well as coordinate everything with the SES and the fire organization. Obtaining all the documents required for this costs about 200 rubles.

Premises for business

When the "paperwork" issues are resolved, you can start looking for premises where the line for the production of plastic bottles will be located. This requires an area of ​​at least 3000 square meters, it is best if it will be located outside the city. For these purposes, an abandoned factory or warehouse is suitable, it is important that all communications that are needed during work are connected to it. The section of the premises will need to be made into three parts (when drawing up a business plan, this must be taken into account): for raw materials, for finished products, for production.

Business staffing

So you've decided to open a plastic bottle recycling plant? In this case, you need to roughly represent the prices and equipment configuration that will be required for these purposes. The minimum amount you should count on is 4 million rubles, plus another 400 thousand for installation. There are several mandatory elements for the production floor. Equipment for the processing of plastic bottles necessarily includes:

Agglomerator (≈ 222 thousand);

Granulation line (≈ 1-2 million);

Rotary shredder (≈1.5 million).

It is important to understand that this set is the minimum required to set up a line that will process a plastic bottle. The following is a list of components for the finished line:

A bath in which the flex will be soaked;

A dynamic centrifuge, designed to carry out tough cleaning of plastic from the remnants of dirt, labels, and other debris;

A hot bath with water heated to 60 degrees, with the addition of sodium phosphate, is used for the most effective cleaning of the flex;

A batcher that supplies flakes in equal portions to pipes with heated air;

Friction auger, which is designed to accumulate flex and transport it to the soaking bath. It includes an inclined auger, a flushing system and an accumulation hopper;

Rinsing bath, which is designed to rinse the residues of detergents from the flakes.

Purchase options

Of course, it is quite possible to acquire domestic equipment, which will be much cheaper, but in this case there is a high probability of frequent breakdowns or that the equipment capacity will not be enough. Although the cost of this equipment will be approximately 1 million rubles. You can also choose such an option as purchasing used machines, then you can save about half the amount.

Among the manufacturers of equipment for the recycling of plastics, the leading positions belong to Herbold, Shredder, Sorema, RIKO RT, Redoma and others. Most of the equipment that is used today is produced in China. If we talk about domestic manufacturers, then the quality of their products is much inferior even to the Chinese. One exception is Machines and Technologies.

Raw materials

The easiest production stage in this case is the organization of the supply of raw materials. We are talking about plastic bottles, of which you can find a lot in every city. Extraction of raw materials can be done in one of several ways:

You can install special waste containers around the city, designed for sorting. Instead of one old one, you can install several new ones. They need to be signed accordingly so that people who get rid of garbage can sort it right away. In doing so, you can count on the support of the city authorities, as they are always glad to see new rubbish bins.

You can send people directly to the solid waste landfill, where they will sort the garbage right on the spot. This method is not so expensive, since you do not need to spend money on the purchase of additional containers.

Organize plastic bottle collection points around the city. Now the cost of one kilogram is about 20-30 cents. In this case, the costs are not as great as if it is necessary to purchase waste bins or send people to the city dump. Since your goal is precisely the recycling of a plastic bottle, and not a reception, you do not need to organize your own collection points, but use the services of already existing ones. You can also negotiate with the city waste collection services on regular supplies of raw materials. The cost of one ton is about $ 100.

The deposit scheme is another option. Its essence consists in arranging the return of used containers back to the points of sale of products for a certain fee.

Profitability and return on business

So, if you are interested in the recycling of plastic bottles as a business, then you need to determine the profitability of the future enterprise when drawing up a plan. First you need to decide on the staff: you need 4-5 workers, an accountant, several people to control the production process, a manager.

It turns out that when organizing such a business, you can face the following average waste:

4 million rubles - purchase of equipment and its installation;

400 thousand rubles - rent of premises and payment of utilities;

RUB 200 thousand - other expenses.

In total, we are talking about the amount of 4.6 million rubles, to which it is worth adding the salary of workers - 270 thousand rubles.

As a result of processing, a product is obtained that will cost 2.9 million per tonne to sell, depending on the type of plastic. When the enterprise operates 23 days a month for 8 hours and produces 1 ton of products per day, you can count on a net monthly benefit of 300-350 thousand rubles.

conclusions

With strict adherence to the business plan, we can say that the opening costs will pay off after about a year and a half, but this is subject to the competent organization of the entire production. In addition to the fact that recycling a plastic bottle is a profitable business, it should also bring moral pleasure from the fact that a person contributes to improving the environmental situation.