Single use plastics from household waste are considered to be one of the biggest pollutants in the world today, with the greatest proportion of greenhouse gas emissions in the plastic industry attributed to the supply of raw materials for these single use items.
By recycling and reusing single use plastic such as polypropylene (PP), it’s possible to greatly reduce the carbon footprint of products while repurposing waste that would otherwise be sent to landfill.
Single use PP plastic such as ice-cream tubs, yogurt pots and takeaway containers are collected from local kerbside waste bins. The recyclables are then sorted and baled, ready to be sent to the next processing facility. The plastic is cleaned, chipped and fed into extrusion machines that turn it into pellets (recolouring is completed during this phase). These pellets are then sent to Allproof where they are used to manufacture a wide range of drainage and passive fire protection products.
Allproof’s Domestic Channel (DC), Commercial Channel (CC), round and square pits along with cast-in fire collars are all made from 100% recycled plastic. Once installed, these products have a long service life often lasting as long as the building itself. Through this range of products manufactured from recycled plastic, Allproof prevents over 12 tonnes of plastic from going to landfill every month – that’s the equivalent of more than 152,000 two-litre ice-cream containers per month.
Additionally, Allproof uses solar to power their fleet of injection moulding machines. The 449 solar panels installed on the roof of Allproof’s main production facility provide 50% of their energy needs. Allproof generates on average 750kWh per day (in excess of 1000kWh per day during the summer months) – this is enough power to supply approximately 59 average homes in the state of Victoria. This clean energy saves a further 50 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere every year, reducing the carbon footprint of Allproof’s recycled plastic drainage and passive fire products even further.
Watch how Allproof repurposes waste plastic into high quality drainage products.
