Milling: Separate, single-polymer plastics are milled together.
This step is usually taken as a first step with many recyclers
around the world.
Washing and drying: This step refers to the pre-washing stage
(beginning of the washing line). The actual plastic washing
process occurs afterwards if further treatment is required.
Both washing stages are executed with water. Chemical
washing is also employed in certain cases (mainly for glue
removal from plastic), where caustic soda and surfactants
are used.
Agglutination: The product is gathered and collected either to
be stored and sold later on after the addition of pigments and
additives, or sent for further processing.
Extrusion: The plastic is extruded to strands and then pelletized
to produce a single-polymer plastic.
Quenching: Involves water-cooling the plastic by water to be
granulated and sold as a final product.