The vacuum forming industry revolves around plastic and it is therefore essential that as a company Airforme keeps up with all the latest developments regarding plastic production and recycling, this enables us to maintain our high level of service, keeping our customers informed of the latest materials as and when they become available.
As we all know the effects of climate change are becoming more and more apparent and coupled with the growing shortage of raw materials it is now more important than ever to recycle waste material. Airforme consumes in excess of 80 tonnes of plastic per annum and every effort is made to encourage the recycling of any wastage that occurs during the manufacturing process, and as a result of our strict “no land fill” policy over 95% of our waste plastic material is recycled.
Where possible we source our materials from local suppliers, and on occasions when we cannot obtain the required materials and have to import plastics we try to predict future requirements thus reducing our carbon foot print. The plastic is delivered into us wrapped and sealed in a plastic film this is then recycled in the form of packaging for our moulds
The plastic recycling process begins with us, after we have produced and trimmed our vacuum formings there will always be a small amount of waste material which is sorted into specific plastic types and placed in reusable containers ready for collection. Once the plastic reaches the recycling plant it is washed and dried to remove any contaminations such as protective films, labels and general dirt thus ensuring the regrind is of a high standard. The clean plastic is reduced in size by shredding then placed in a granulator ready for blending.
The blending process assembles multiple small batches of the same type of plastic to which additives and enhancing agents are introduced to suit the formula required for the regrind type being produced by the recycling plant. The plastic material is now ready to be turned back into sheet plastic.
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