How it is made
After watching how different materials are made, I know the advantages and disadvantages of different materials. Therefore, I get a better understanding of how to choose the materials wisely for my design.
The first video I watched is aluminum. Aluminum is now used in making drinks container because it is light weight and recyclable. The manufacuture will send a large long sheet into a machine. The machine will cut the sheet into a round sheet then press it into a cup. The next step is to put the cup into a draw iron body maker which will form the body of the can. Then the body of can will be washed by 6 stages cleaning washer and they will be ready to print the label. Inside the can, a chemical will be added to prevent the can be eatern by acid drinks.
Cardboard boxes is another material that is introduced in the videos. The weight of the paper used in making card board boxes are depending on the size of the boxes. The structure of the cardboard boxes is formed by three parts, which are two sheets of paper - flute, and the middle part - liner. These three parts form what is called corrugate board. The corrugate board will be trimmed in the machine, and then two folding machines will fold them together. Afterwards, the colors will be applied on the card board. At the end, the workers will check the boxes before packaging the product into the cardboard.
Glass bottles is one of the materials that use less energy than plastic and metal. Glass bottles are made by silicon sand, soda, and 10% of lime stone in order to make the glass durable. All these materials will be mixed together and melted in a container for 4 days. Then the melted glass will go through a cutting machine and eventually to a mold. Blowing machine will immediately blow the glass to form the shape.
Tetrapak container is now used a lot in packaging drinks and foods because tetrapak can keep the drink and food fresh for one year without fridge . It is formed by three different materials which are plastic, paperboard, and foyer. The container can be printed up to 6 colors on the surface. The worker will check the quality of printings before processing to next steps, squeezing all the papers together, then the tetrapak will be filled with product and sealed.
Giving packaging a new life
Recycling the packaging can save huge amount of waste materials and turn them into new products again. Watching these videos, I learned different processes of recycling used materials.
Aluminum is melted in the machine, then formed a long sheet again to be re-used in manufacture. Glass is sorted out by an electronic device which is controlled by a computer. The computer can determine what impurities have to be removed, then the device will immediately blow out the impurities. After cleaning process, the recycled glass is now ready to be melted with soda lime and sand. Recycling glass can save approximate 2.7 million tones of waste glass each year. Paper is similar to aluminum and glass. Any impurities and printing will be removed before press, drain and dry the used paper into new sheet of paper. Almost 60 to 70 percent of roll paper are made by recycle paper. In the 90s, plastics were not recycled, they were sent to landfilled. Now, because there are too many waste plastics have been disposed to ocean, and the biological chain is also influenced. Therefore, the scientists create an inspection system that helps recycle the plastic. The system can easily identify various types of plastics, and the system will send them to different places for cleaning and re-use. This new system increases the proportion of plastics to be recycled, and makes the recycle process easier.
