VALORLUX collects PET and HDPE bottles and flasks in blue bags. The content of the bags is sorted in the sorting centre to separate the different types of plastic that will then be sent to different recycling plants. There, the plastic bottles are cleaned up and their paper labels are removed. The bottles are then crushed and turned into flakes and granules, which will be used to make new items just as if they were brand new raw materials. Every ton of recycled plastic allows saving 700 to 800 kilos of crude oil. In 2006, VALORLUX contributed to the recycling of 3,542 tons of plastic packaging, which translates into saving some 2,656 tons of crude oil. Apart from recycling, plastics can also be recovered and turned into heating materials or chemical compounds. The thermal recovery of plastics like polyolefin (HDPE, PP, etc.) generates heat that is equivalent to the one generated by domestic oil and its great advantage is not to generate any toxic gases in the process. The chemical recovery of plastics generates – depending on the level of temperature – the presence of reagents or catalysts, of hydrocarbons like paraffin, and of basic chemicals like alcohols, monomers, etc.