What makes plastic recyclable vs non-recyclable plastic?

Question

What is the difference between plastic than can be recycled vs plastic that cannot?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

It’s largely about how well it can handle the cleaning and reprocessing steps. To recycle plastic, you need to clean it well, and then melt it down and reform it into pellets which can then be turned into new plastic items. Many plastics when exposed to the heat and chemicals required for those steps will degrade and not be useful for new products.