Recycling plastic bottles as a business. Equipment for recycling plastic bottles

“Made from recycled plastic.” Such inscriptions are found on a wide variety of products - cans, combs, even children's toys. In the civilized world, plastic recycling technologies have already come a long way; they make it possible to recycle PET plastic bottles... into exactly the same plastic bottles.

Today in Russia there is only one plant operating using bottle-to-bottle technology. Let's see how this production works.

1. The Plarus plant was opened in 2007 on the outskirts of Solnechnogorsk near Moscow.

2. Today 1800-2500 tons are processed here plastic bottles per month. The input is dirty used bottles, the output is clean raw materials for the production of new ones.

3. Raw materials are collected at sorting stations and household waste sites.

4. In Russia, they are not accustomed to the fact that garbage can cost money, and its separate collection is not developed (the share of “separation” at the plant is no more than 1%). The plant buys some of the bottles from fitness clubs and hotels, but this doesn’t make a difference either. Main source raw materials - ordinary landfills from all over the country (they are even brought from the Urals), where garbage is sorted by hand, bottles are separated from it, after which it is packaged and sold to the factory. 300-kilogram piles of dirty pressed bottles are brought to the factory site, where they wait in the wings.

The first workshop is busy with the selection and sorting of bottles. All equipment of the enterprise is European, from the leaders in the solid waste processing industry - BRT Recycling Technologie GmbH (Germany), TOMRA Systems ASA (Germany), RTT Steinert GmbH (Germany), BOA (Holland), SOREMA (Italy), BUHLER AG (Switzerland).

5. The bales are loaded into the bunkers of the sorting lines, after which they are unpacked and sorted.

6. By and large, the plant could operate automatically, but in Russian realities this is impossible. Automatic lines are able to distinguish and sort bottles by color, but as in Europe, where plastic is recycled in its pure form, this does not work here - due to the very strong contamination of the raw materials, human help is required, and more than one.

8. Several teams of workers manually sort the bottles, cut off the labels, throw out any loose debris and containers that cannot be recycled, for example, those entirely wrapped in shrink plastic, with foreign objects inside, or of a non-standard color. Only blue, brown, clear and green bottles are suitable for recycling. The latter, by the way, are the least popular among customers.

9. The bottles, sorted by color, are again pressed into bales and transported outside to a warehouse, where they await delivery to the second workshop.

10. In the next workshop everything begins with the unpacking of the “sorted” bales...

11. ...after which the bottles are sent for washing.

12. Here the container is “washed” first in cold water, then in hot water, then in an alkaline solution and a special detergent.

14. The outside of the bottle is washed, the glue that was used to attach the label is dissolved. After a series of washes, there is another manual sorting station and magnetic metal separation.

16. The next stage is crushing. The bottles are crushed together with the corks, after which the resulting flakes again undergo a thorough cleaning procedure. In a special drum filled with liquid, the bottle plastic is separated from the cork plastic. Their density is different, and flakes from the corks float to the surface.

17. Bottle flakes undergo a final inductive metal separation procedure, after which a special computer machine selects rejected flakes of a different color.

18. Then some of the products are packaged in 2-meter soft containers, the so-called Big-Bag. Flex is an excellent raw material for the manufacture of various household goods, building materials and even... fleece fabric!

19. Before starting further production, a sample of the resulting flakes is taken and sent to a chemical laboratory for various tests.

21. After this, the flakes are transported by pneumatic transport to the third workshop - the extrusion and granulation line. The process is fully automated.

22. The process in the third workshop consists of several stages. Firstly, repeated metal separation, then preheating, removal of acetaldehyde and other harmful impurities, filtering. First, the flakes are cut in a grinder, after which the flex melts at a temperature of 280 degrees Celsius.

26. A special machine, through a die, extrudes thin threads (strands) from melted and cleaned plastic, which are dried and cut into granules.

28. The amorphous granulate is transported for crystallization and then enters the reactor.

29. After 16 hours of polycondensation in a reactor, under the influence of nitrogen and high temperature the amorphous granulate is converted into the final raw material - high-viscosity PET granulate for the production of PET bottles.

30. Each batch of products is re-controlled - the resulting granules are carefully studied by specialists.

31. The finished product is packaged in large bags and then sent to customers.

34. The granulate is approved for use in packaging for food products according to expert opinion Federal Budgetary Institution of Health "Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology of the Moscow Region". Bottles from it are exactly the same transparent and clean as those from ordinary granulate obtained chemically.

35. A plant employing 150 people can produce up to 10 thousand tons per year finished products, but the current volume is less. The reason is the lack of raw materials... That is why one of the organizers of tours to the Plarus plant is the organization... GreenPeace. Environmentalists welcome separate waste collection and plastic recycling - this process is three times less harmful to the planet than conventional plastic production. A serious reason to think!

Due to its versatility, low cost and durability, plastic has found its application in all spheres of life. Today, plastic is the most common artificial material on the planet. He's also first on the garbage list. The amount of plastic waste on the planet is reaching epidemic proportions. Many scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs began to pay attention to this problem.

Industrial machines for recycling plastic are usually very expensive and quite complex in design. And let's face it, industrial scale Recycling plastic doesn't pay. Because production cycle — « raw material - plastic product"much shorter and cheaper than - " garbage - sorting - plastic product - recycling - cleaning - raw materials - plastic product" That is why not all cities in the world have factories for processing plastic waste. And their massive appearance is not expected in the near future.

It turns out that the niche recycling plastic at home open. And it is waiting for those who monetize it from any side. A to the common man you don't need much. After all, the beauty of this niche is that waste plastic, essentially garbage, lies under everyone’s feet and is of no use to anyone. That is, excellent and durable material - for free! All that remains is to pick it up, process it in one form or another, and reuse it. And if you don’t like the result, rework it again!

Project " Precious Plastic» helps all consumers give up plastic waste new life. He invites everyone to recycle plastic on their own using household machines, the drawings of which are freely distributed on the Internet.

This project, developed by a Dutch designer Dave Hakkens, shows what can be done to help stop the "plastic plague" in the environment.

Dave, concerned about the problem of plastic waste, found on the Internet drawings of several devices that allow him to somehow recycle plastic at home. Having collected the first samples, improved them, and developed a modular concept for future devices, Hakkens created international project « Precious Plastic" In which he invites everyone to assemble and use four simple but effective plastic recycling machines.

The use of devices allows you to extend the service life of various plastic household items by simply recycling them into others. Unnecessary to necessary. Dishes, artificial rattan, various interior elements - here is a small list of items that can be made from household plastic waste using these machines.

Four devices, depending on the type and quality of the plastic, allow it to be processed in different ways:

Shredder or shredder - a device for grinding plastic waste into crumbs for subsequent processing - heating;
Extruder or extruder - a device that extrudes a heated plastic mass in the form of a rope or tape. That is, the result is artificial rattan or consumables for a 3D printer.
Injector or an injector - heats the polymer crumbs to a plastic mass and injects them into the desired shape;
Press— plastic crumbs under pressure and high temperature are pressed into various new objects.

The most amazing thing about the project “ Precious Plastic"what are they unique cars are distributed free of charge. More precisely, the drawings of the device and instructions for assembling them are available to everyone (video instructions will be below). All that remains is to assemble the cars and start making money on them.

How to make money by recycling plastic at home? Recycling plastics and polymers at home!

Firstly. By recycling unnecessary plastic into useful plastic products and selling them as unique handmade items. This is the simplest and most affordable solution.

Secondly. Entire creative laboratories and coworking spaces are opening based on Hakkens machines. Where anyone can come with their plastic waste, pay money, and work on the machines.

Thirdly. Assistance in assembling and selling devices. Not everyone can master device drawings. And, moreover, collect them. But they are ready to buy assembled similar machines. Why not take advantage of this? Moreover, ready-made devices are quite expensive. Assembly, if you have everything you need, will take no more than a month for any handy guy in the garage.

Fourth. You definitely have your own ideas!

Video No. 1: how to assemble a shredder for shredding plastic

Video No. 2: how to assemble an extruder for plastic processing

Video No. 3: how to assemble an injector for plastic recycling

Video No. 4: how to assemble a press for plastic recycling

So, after studying the video, you can start assembling the devices. For more convenient work, we suggest you study the drawings on the official website of the project. In English.

If the devices are too complicated, you can look at a simple way to recycle plastic bottles at home.

Bonus: the simplest device for cutting plastic bottles

Appeared on Kickstarter new project « Plastic Bottle Cutter”, which gives consumers the opportunity to reuse plastic bottles.

The simplest device (and you will see this when you see the photo below) allows you to turn an ordinary plastic bottle into a plastic thread of various thicknesses, which you can use at your discretion.

From this thread you can weave various items - from small baskets to elegant furniture elements.

In general, disposable plastic bottles are a valuable resource due to the fact that the highest quality plastic is used in their production. But this advantage is not taken into account by most people and the bottles are simply thrown away. The rate of bottle throwing is increasing every day. Therefore, the challenge of effectively reusing and recycling these materials is imperative and imperative. This will reduce environmental pollution.

Plastic recycling business proper organization capable of generating a decent income. At the same time, such activities help save the environment by clearing landfills of non-degradable waste and preventing the release of harmful substances into the atmosphere when it is burned.

Advantages and disadvantages of a business idea

Even a small home-based enterprise for recycling plastic waste from the same empty bottles is economically profitable. This is facilitated by low costs for raw materials - it can be obtained for free if you negotiate with enterprises that want to get rid of unnecessary waste.

Purchasing plastic waste from the population will require approximately 9 thousand rubles. per ton. If you choose the production of granules, then from 5 tons of waste you can get 4 tons of product. With properly organized sales, their cost will be about 200 thousand rubles.

Over a one-month period, taking into account weekends and working one shift, an average enterprise is capable of producing about 40 tons of processed product.

Profit excluding taxes and other expenses is about 2 million rubles. For such an enterprise, the equipment will cost approximately 4 million rubles. If you subtract the costs of rent, salaries, utilities, and transportation, it will pay for itself in about six months.

A plastic bottle is the most common type of container today

It is necessary to take into account the scale of production and the chosen business technology. If you recycle small quantity plastic at home and produce not granules, but plastic flakes - flexes, then the income will be significantly less, but the costs of equipment will also be reduced. Here the average income is about 300 thousand rubles. per month, and reaching the break-even point occurs in about a year.

When organizing a plastic processing business, it is necessary to take into account its possible disadvantages:

a large number of permits, which will require both time and money. In general, starting a business will require 4 months and at least 50 thousand rubles. excluding the cost of equipment and rental;
difficulties in finding sales and fairly high competition;
the need for manual labor, which expands the staff and costs for salaries, payments to insurance funds and tax.

But with a competent approach to the plastic processing business, these shortcomings are offset by good profits, which in a year will become stable, and a fairly quick return on the initial investment.

Types of plastic recycling

To properly organize a plastic recycling business, you need to decide what specific plastic waste will be sent for processing, and what final result is planned to be obtained. The choice of technology, scale of production and cost of equipment depend on this.

The most in a simple way is the processing of single-grade scrap without serious contamination - the same PET bottles.

But with good financial investments, you can organize a mini-plant for processing different types of plastic materials or plastics containing impurities. In this case, additional cleaning equipment will be required.

The processing process at enterprises is carried out mechanically or use chemical and thermal methods. To obtain secondary raw materials for sale, the first method is used. Chemical methods (hydrolysis, glycolysis, methanolysis), as well as thermal destruction (pyrolysis) require expensive equipment, special laboratory conditions, and it is extremely difficult to organize such production on your own.

Main types of recycled plastic:

polymer granules;
polymer-sand mixture;
flexes.

The granular form of polypropylene is ideally suited for its connection with other components

The plastic recycling business involves more than just pellets, which are used to create plastic bottles, polymer fibers and packaging.

If you purchase the appropriate equipment - melting and heating apparatuses - you can organize the production of a polymer-sand composition.

It can be sold to enterprises involved in the creation of flexible tiles, paving slabs and other similar products.

Processing technology includes five main stages:

Sorting plastic by type and level of contamination.
Initial grinding.
Secondary sorting.
Washing and drying.
Melting the plastic until homogeneous and molding in a press granulator.

From one bottle you can get from 35 to 40 g of flakes

When creating flexes, the last stage is skipped, so you just get crushed plastic of a small fraction different colors. The granules have the same weight and size, they differ more high quality. It is more profitable to produce them, but the equipment is more expensive, since a special extruder is required.

The main difficulty of mechanical recycling is preliminary sorting and cleaning. Contaminated plastic is brought from landfills - removing labels, debris and impurities takes time and manual labor.

Where to start

To implement this business idea, you first need to analyze the market for competitors. If a city with a population of less than 100 thousand people already has a similar production facility, opening a new one is unprofitable. Or you need to change the direction of sales - come to an agreement with buyers in the nearest large populated areas, choose a different type of finished product. But in any case, the first step is to draw up a business plan for plastic recycling to take into account the likely costs and risks.

Drawing up a business plan

Even if you are planning to start a plastic recycling business at home, you need to start by drawing up a business plan. Ideally, it is better to create three options: realistic, optimistic and pessimistic. This will allow production work to vary depending on the situation. When drawing up a plan, you need to consider the following:

Availability of probable suppliers of raw materials and potential distribution channels for finished products. It may be more profitable to spend money on equipment for the independent production of blanks for bottles or polymer fiber.
Required permits to start production. First of all, this is the official registration in tax authority as an LLC or individual entrepreneur with the purchase of an online cash register and its setup.
Choosing a suitable room. If you are organizing not a tiny production in a personal garage, but a mini-factory, it is economical to rent a non-residential workshop on the outskirts of the city. But all communications must be connected.
Selection and purchase of equipment. The kit depends on the final product. At the initial stage, you can save money by buying devices second-hand.
Calculation of personnel and expenses for salaries, transport.

Don't forget about advertising campaign. If preliminary sales agreements have already been concluded, a small website with product prices is sufficient. But you will probably need to spend money on leaflets to attract potential suppliers of raw materials and organizing containers in yards for separate waste disposal.

Recycling plastic bottles is a hazardous industry, so you will need to obtain a license to operate and obtain an environmental certificate

Search for plastic suppliers

To keep a processing line running continuously, a continuous flow of raw materials is required. To do this, it is necessary to establish not one, but several channels for its receipt:

purchase from the population;
organization environmental activities for cleaning up territories;
use of containers for separate collection garbage;
unnecessary fence plastic containers in cafes and restaurants.

At the right approach Most of the raw material base will be supplied free of charge, which will reduce the cost of production and increase the likelihood of its rapid sale.

Installing containers is not enough; you need to purchase at least a cargo GAZelle

Search for premises and equipment

A mini-plant for plastic processing will require an industrial premises with an area of at least 60 square meters. m with additional departments for storing raw materials and finished products. All communication lines must be connected to it.

You will need to obtain permits from the fire department and environmental services of the locality.

The set of equipment depends on the types of raw materials being processed, but you will definitely need:

automatic devices for feeding raw materials;
cleaning devices;
shredders for preliminary crushing;
crushers for final grinding;
bunkers;
dispensers.

Both liquid and dry modules can be used to clean plastics. The latter type is more convenient, economical and environmentally friendly.

The line consists of several units connected by conveyor belts

To process plastic bottles into flakes, a puncher and a specialized line, which already includes cleaning devices and shredders, are sufficient.

If you plan to produce granules, you will additionally need a granulator press. It consists of an extruder equipped with one or two screws, a slide filter, as well as an electric heater and an air or water cooler. Thanks to extruders with two screws, higher quality products are obtained, but such installations are more expensive. Low-cost extrusion machines are produced in China, Russia and Ukraine, while more expensive and high-quality ones are imported from Western Europe.

Modern models require remote control of operation. If you don’t skimp on an expensive automated line that carries out a full cycle of washing, separating from foreign inclusions, grinding and granulating, you can subsequently seriously save on salaries for regular staff.

Homemade equipment for plastic recycling on video

Personnel search

The staff of the processing complex depends on the scale of the enterprise and production automation. For home business Two family members will be enough, but a small plant will require hiring four workers per line, as well as a truck driver.

Possible errors

An optimistic business plan assumes that the plant operates without interruption, there is always enough raw materials, and the finished product does not sit in the warehouse. In this case, it is possible to obtain consistently high profits. But reality does not always coincide with the desired result. To establish the most cost-effective production, you need to take into account possible problems:

lack of raw materials to fully load the line;
geographical proximity of a competing enterprise;
lack of equipment capacity;
the risk of breakdown of equipment components, which will cause production to stop;
human factor - negligence or alcohol abuse of workers.

If you control these points, you can avoid production errors and achieve stable operation of the enterprise.

Plastic bottles make up a significant portion of household waste.

Plastic accumulations on landfills lead to serious environmental problems.

It is a known fact that PET bottles take more than 200 years to decompose, and deposits of this material can turn the planet into a giant landfill. When they decompose, toxic substances are also released.

Equipment for recycling plastic bottles allows you to reduce the amount of manual labor. Recycling plastic can not only significantly improve the environment, but also generate impressive income. Moreover, you can use recycled PET raw materials an unlimited number of times.

The latest technologies for recycling recyclable materials make it possible to obtain from PET bottles fuel. For example, Envion recycles PET containers to produce synthetic automotive fuel.

However, this technology is much inferior in terms of profitability to the common technology for producing recycled plastic in the form of granules.

The process of producing polyethylene granules takes place in several main stages:

Plastic sorting according to color and type and subsequent cleaning. If there is no need for further processing, then compressed PET bottles are sold as secondary raw materials.
Usage crushing equipment to obtain homogenized plastic crumbs.
Flushing the resulting plastic mass to remove dirt, glue and labels.
Drying, allowing to minimize the remaining moisture.
Agglomeration through heat treatment.
Granulation to small granules.

Failure to completely remove contaminants, labels, adhesives and other components increases wear and tear on the equipment, and foreign objects can even destroy the crusher. Even a slight residue of glue on the raw material can adversely affect the color and quality of the resulting polymer.

Brief overview of the equipment

All modern lines that allow processing PET bottles into recyclable materials contain:

vibrating sieve, to remove solid impurities;
conveyor for sorting plastic;
crusher for crushing bottles;
centrifuge for drying with label separator;
plug separator, based on the fact that the density of plastic crumbs allows them to sink to the bottom and be transmitted further by the line. In this case, the floating cork crumbs are transported to another container, where they are removed.
secondary washing followed by drying to obtain plastic chips suitable for subsequent processing.

Production minimum

Equipment set for small and medium production:

conveyor or sorting table
special

This set of equipment is completed small collection points where the bottles are subject to sorting and baling.

Labels, as well as plugs and PVC rings can be removed manually beforehand.

Bottles pressed into a bale take up ten times less space.

For example, press from the mini series has a price of 70–75 thousand rubles.

This type of press is ideal for a small collection point.

It allows you not to accumulate the resulting raw materials, but to immediately press them into bales.

In such a compact form, transportation and storage are much more profitable and convenient.

Additional equipment

Equipment for recycling can also be expanded by:

crushing machine, combining several functions
special washing container
drying
extruder instead of a conventional granulator

When collecting raw materials yourself, the bottles are sorted and then the labels and corks are removed. The next step is to crush the bottles until you get homogeneous plastic chips.

The crushed mass is obtained through the process of washing and removing dirt and adhesive residues. The next step is drying and granulation.

Using an extruder, you can produce plastic thread or another product of a given shape instead of granules.

The average price of a crusher, for example, a model such as AMD-200D, starts from 98 thousand rubles.

Popular lines

The most affordable machines recycling bottles made of plastic, belong to baling type. The most popular of them are:

press PRESSMAX 530, a universal machine based on imported components:
1. hydraulic pump brand Marzocchi and Vivoil,
2. MPspaFILTRI filter elements,
3. Badestnost distributors.
Average price equipment costs 220 thousand rubles.
crusher "AMD-600D", with a productivity of up to 120 kg/hour. It is characterized by its small size and low power consumption. Very easy and intuitive controls price from 120 thousand rubles.
centrifuge for drying polymer materials “S-TSR-30” with a maximum productivity of 400 kg/hour. Operating power is 20 kW/hour. Removes with water all residual fine particles: dirt, dust, sand and PVC. Average cost is about 140 thousand rubles.
Extruder. The full cycle also implies the presence of an extruder - a machine that allows you to mold plastic materials. The cost of such a polymer and plastic granulator depends on the desired performance. The efficiency of such equipment is best calculated when the volumes of available raw materials are precisely known. Average price from 64 thousand rubles.

Price and equipment

The minimum cost of processing equipment is about 4 million rubles. For example, the cost of a mobile mini-plant for processing PET bottles PET mobile-250 is approximately 160 thousand euros.

About 400 thousand will be required to install equipment. The cost of the required elements of the production workshop:

agglomerator ≈ 250 thousand
granulation line ≈ 1.5–2.5 million.
rotary chopper ≈ 2 million

Components of the finished line:

container for soaking flex
dynamic centrifuge for cleaning plastic
hot bath
dispenser
friction screw
rinsing bath

Domestic equipment is much cheaper (≈ 1.5 million rubles). However, it is often more susceptible frequent breakdowns and has lower productivity.

The leaders among equipment manufacturers are:

Redoma,
Herbold,
Sorema,
Shredder,
RIKO RT.

Costs and profitability

Payback such a business is a key point in production planning.

To buy a fully equipped line, you will need about 4 million rubles. Average productivity will be from 0.8 to 1 ton per hour. Total energy consumption is 73 kW per hour.

No more than six people will be required to service the production. At the same time, they will be busy mainly with loading and unloading operations. The efficiency of each worker is about 120 kg/h. Wages about 15–20 thousand rubles per month.

For full production you will additionally need:

manager,
accountant.

The cost of a ton of raw materials (this is approximately 25,000 plastic bottles) is from 3 to 6 thousand rubles. With an 8-hour working day, the gross income will be approximately 350 thousand rubles per month. Including all payments payback of such equipment will be from 18 to 36 months.

Conclusions

Now is the most favorable moment to purchase equipment and create an enterprise for processing plastic containers. A little more time and the barrier to entry into this market will become much higher, as will the competition.

The Internet is replete with advertisements for buying and selling food-grade plastic. A huge volume of plastic bottles are simply thrown into the trash. Next, valuable raw materials end up in city landfills and rot there for years instead of being recycled.

You can start by organizing a collection point for PET containers, which will save you from transportation costs. You can also enter into an agreement with enterprises that produce significant volumes of PET waste. A stable source of raw materials is essential.

Opening an enterprise for processing plastic bottles into secondary raw materials will require proper selection of equipment. Cheap ones can quickly fail, but expensive ones will have a significant payback period.

The advantage is that you can start with a minimum set of equipment. As income grows, some operations can be automated through the purchase of specialized machines.

PET recycling equipment in action can be seen in a short video:

Plastic bottles are currently the main problem in most cities in our country. This problem is especially aggravated during major events and in the summer, when carbonated drink containers are scattered everywhere on the city streets. And, of course, discarded plastic can be seen in places where large numbers of vacationers gather: rivers, lakes, specially designated recreation areas.

Few of us think about the fact that plastic is one of the main problems of humanity. Fortunately, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of this environmental problem by starting to recycle plastic bottles. This will not only benefit nature, but will also provide you with a stable and high income.

Relevance of this area

Each resident of our country throws out about 300 kilograms of garbage in one year, some of which is plastic containers. Today, plastic bottles are used for packaging juices, mineral water, alcoholic products and other drinks.

You might think that plastic packaging does not have much value, unlike, for example, glass containers. This is not entirely true, because plastic is an excellent raw material for the production of flex. In turn, this material is necessary for the production of chemical fibers. Flex in its pure form is small whitish flakes. It is obtained mainly from plastic bottles. It serves as a recyclable material for the production of exactly the same products. That is, it turns out that one bottle can undergo almost endless recycling. But the main thing that can be obtained from recycled plastic is PET flex.

PET flex is a chemical fiber that is used to make the bristles of toothbrushes, car wash brushes, packaging materials, films, tiles, paving slabs and other similar materials.

The main feature of a business is the ability to do environment cleaner, which is so important in modern world. By the way, for a plastic bottle to reach the stage of complete decomposition in natural conditions, it takes about 300 years.

Today in our country such business is practically not developed. This gives entrepreneurs room to develop this industry and production.

Advantages

The advantages of business are as follows:

At the moment he is receiving more and more support from state power. The state creates special support programs individual entrepreneurs who conduct their business in the processing industry. Why this area receives such support is easy to guess - recycling of plastic containers is a factor that improves environmental situation in our country.
Recycling plastic containers can significantly save the government extra money. The state reduces costs for activities related to improving the ecological state of nature.
The recycling industry can also save a significant portion of the funds that were previously spent on transportation, waste sorting, crushing, etc.

Financial benefits of business:

In the long term, waste will remain one of the unresolved problems of humanity. Therefore, we can conclude that there should be no problems with profit.
Such a business is ideal for young individual entrepreneurs, as it does not require special knowledge and skills.
No license required, unlike many other projects.
Quickly reaches the predicted profit and pays for itself.
You don't have to worry about recycling collection points becoming your competition. In most cases, people will throw away bottles rather than take them to collection points and return them for a few kopecks.

If you have not yet registered an organization, then easiest way do this using online services, which will help you generate all the necessary documents for free: If you already have an organization, and you are thinking about how to simplify and automate accounting and reporting, then the following online services will come to the rescue, which will completely replace an accountant in your company and save a lot money and time. All reporting is generated automatically and signed electronic signature and is sent automatically online. It is ideal for individual entrepreneurs or LLCs on the simplified tax system, UTII, PSN, TS, OSNO.
Everything happens in a few clicks, without queues and stress. Try it and you will be surprised how easy it has become!

Process technology

The processing technology is as follows:

Used polyethylene containers are sorted according to their class (painted and unpainted). Each bottle of a specific color will be recycled separately.
Next, bottles made of polyvinyl chloride are sorted, followed by the processing of products made from this material.
Then you must manually remove all foreign objects from the bottles: metal, rubber, glass and other similar elements. After this, the plastic is pressed.
The compressed bottles must be loaded onto the production line where the recycling process will begin. As a result, the output will be pure flex in the form of whitish flakes.
The processing line consists of several elements, each of which is connected by a conveyor. First, the compressed plastic goes into a special rotary machine, where it will be separated from labels and caps. Afterwards it goes into a crusher, where it is subsequently finely crushed.
Next, the crushed material will be transferred using a screw conveyor, which is equipped with an Archimedean screw, into a special steam boiler. In it, under the influence of hot liquid, foreign objects that were not removed using the rotary machine will be removed.
After the material has been cleared of any remaining foreign matter in the boiler, it is transferred to a polishing machine and then to a special rinsing machine. Once plastic has undergone liquid processing, it can be considered recycled. Recycled plastic (flex) from the recycling line is sent to a special compartment where it must dry completely.

What equipment will you need?

To recycle bottles, you will need to purchase specialized equipment. There is currently a wide selection on the market necessary equipment both domestic production and imported. If you are planning a full-fledged processing line, then in this case you will have to spend about 150,000 dollars.

You can also not resort to a full processing line, but purchase a mini-plant. Such a plant is very mobile, because the processing line is only 6 meters long. He will become good option, if you are opening a production facility outside the city or planning to travel around the region selling raw materials for processing.

Despite all the advantages, the mini-plant has disadvantages, one of which is its high cost. It could be around $200,000.

For example, one of such plants is made in Sweden PET Mobile 250. Its cost as of 2015 is around $180,000. It is completely assembled in a container, allowing it to operate without a workshop.

Where to get raw materials

In the field of processing plastic bottles, there are practically no problems with raw materials. In every city in our country, thousands of needed bottles are lying around in trash bins and landfills; they remain after mass celebrations in large quantities. Therefore, the most appropriate solution would be to organize a collection point. On average, they pay 0.1-0.2 dollars for one kilogram of plastic. Also, in agreement with the city administration, you can put special bins where people will throw away used bottles.

In addition, you can enter into a contract for the supply of raw materials with landfills, since that is where there is more of it. At the same time, you will have to resolve issues about its delivery to the processing workshop. You can also use advertising to obtain additional sources.

Since your business is in the processing industry, it is recommended to enter into an agreement for the receipt of raw materials with collection points. The opening of your points can be postponed until the moment when the activity begins to pay off.

In our country, business has not yet received widespread. Therefore, you need to make some efforts to ensure your profit. If the organization is at the right level, the result will be good.

Where to sell products, profit calculation

After recycling, bottles find new life and are used to make disposable tableware, packaging tape, brushes and other products. Finding partners will not be difficult. The price for one ton of processed goods will be not less than 30,000 rubles, sometimes it can be higher.

If the finished raw material is around 50 tons, then you will receive at least 40 tons of flex per month. Thus, recycling will bring monthly income of at least 400,000 rubles. This amount also includes payment of taxes, rent of premises, utilities, wages of plant employees.

Total costs

A full-fledged processing line costs around $150,000. The productivity of such a line is one ton of raw material per hour of operation. The output is about 70-80 percent pure flex. It must be borne in mind that the remaining 20-30 percent are materials unsuitable for production. The power of electricity consumed is about 70-80 kilowatts per hour.

The plant staff should be about 8-10 people. At least 5-6 people should be involved in processing and sorting bottles. Processing consists of washing and rejecting the material. One worker can process about 120 kilograms of plastic. The average salary of one employee is 20-25 thousand rubles.

The cost of one ton of material is about 100 dollars (about 5 thousand rubles).

Thus, at the initial stage you will have to invest a lot of capital, but since the business is quite profitable, it will be able to reach a stable profit within 1-1.5 years.