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You can't go wrong with recycling, can you? You can. There are some common recycling mistakes that go against every effort you make - and you may not even notice. This series gives you an insight.
Ready meals are often supplied with black plastic packaging that many people throw in the wastebasket. The problem is: as convenient as they are, they are a recycling challenge.
According to Recycle Now, plastic packaging is sorted into different types of plastic, which are then pressed together for reprocessing. Near-infrared technology (NIR) is used for this sorting. Unfortunately, black plastic is difficult to detect for the NIR lasers and is therefore generally not sorted for recycling.
Can black plastic be recycled?
Although some companies use a special type of black plastic that can be recognized with NIR technology, waste disposal companies must first optimize their NIR equipment. The British Plastics Pact is working with industry to introduce this two-step solution. In the meantime, a waste disposal company sorts black plastic manually.
“The best thing to do is to ask your local authority. You will know whether your waste disposal company is either sorting black manually or whether the recycling plant has fine-tuned its equipment to recycle the special detectable black plastic, ”Recycle Now recommends.
