Toll Shredding and Granulating

Plastic scrap generated during manufacturing often has significant value, but that value can be difficult to recover when the material remains in the form of oversized parts, thick purgings, rejected components, runners, sprues, or bulky production waste. Reaction Polymers provides toll shredding and granulating in Salt Lake City to help manufacturers convert qualifying post-industrial plastic into practical, reusable raw material. Toll processing allows your company to retain ownership of its plastic while Reaction Polymers performs the size-reduction work. Instead of selling the material outright, sending it to a landfill, or investing in expensive grinding equipment, you can have the scrap collected, processed, and returned to your facility as regrind. This approach can help reduce disposal expenses, recover value from production waste, and create a more efficient closed-loop recycling program. Reaction Polymers has the industrial equipment and experience needed to reduce a variety of plastic forms. Depending on the resin, condition, and processing requirements, materials may be shredded into smaller pieces or granulated into a more uniform size. The finished regrind can then be packaged in lined gaylords, secured to pallets, and returned for possible reuse in your manufacturing operation. Many manufacturers generate recyclable plastic during startups, shutdowns, color changes, tooling adjustments, quality-control rejections, and normal production. This material may be too large or irregular to feed back into processing equipment without additional preparation. It may also accumulate quickly, taking up valuable floor space and creating an ongoing material-handling challenge. Plastic shredding services help reduce bulky scrap into a more manageable form, while granulating can prepare suitable material for blending or reintroduction into production. Common toll-processing candidates may include molded parts, extruded profiles, sheets, runners, sprues, purgings, rejected products, production trim, and other clean post-industrial thermoplastics. Each project must be reviewed individually because resin type, contamination, color, size, volume, and end-use requirements can affect whether the material is suitable for processing. Proper material separation is essential. Different resin families should not be mixed unless the customer’s process specifically requires a controlled blend. Plastic should also remain free from metal, wood, paper, cardboard, tape, rubber, fabric, floor sweepings, fasteners, paint, sealants, and other foreign material. Contamination can interfere with shredding and granulating equipment, reduce the quality of the finished regrind, or make the material unsuitable for reuse. Manufacturers can improve the results of a toll grinding program by separating material at the point where it is generated. Clearly labeled containers for each resin, color, and production stream make it easier to maintain consistency. Natural and light-colored plastic should generally be kept separate from dark or black material when color flexibility is important. Known materials should also be isolated from unidentified warehouse inventory until testing confirms the resin type. Before processing begins, Reaction Polymers can review the material’s type, form, estimated quantity, cleanliness, color, packaging, and intended use. It is also helpful to understand the desired regrind size and how the material will be used after it is returned. A manufacturer planning to blend regrind into an existing production process may have different requirements than a company preparing material for storage, resale, testing, or custom reprocessing. The toll shredding and granulating process can reduce the need for manufacturers to operate their own size-reduction systems. Industrial grinders and shredders require a substantial investment, along with floor space, electrical capacity, maintenance, replacement blades, dust control, trained operators, and ongoing safety procedures. For companies that do not generate enough scrap to justify that investment, outsourced processing can provide access to professional equipment without the burden of owning and maintaining it. Outsourcing can also help companies manage temporary or irregular material volumes. A manufacturer may generate a large amount of plastic during a product transition, discontinued production run, warehouse cleanup, color change, or quality issue. Toll grinding provides a way to process that material without permanently expanding the facility’s equipment or labor requirements. Reaction Polymers can assist with transportation for qualifying projects, helping move material from the customer’s facility to the processing location and return the finished regrind. Once processed, the material can be placed in lined gaylords and banded to properly sized pallets for easier storage, handling, and reuse. Some manufacturers choose toll processing because they want to maintain greater control over the origin and history of their recycled material. When a company’s own clean production scrap is processed separately and returned, the manufacturer knows where the material came from and how it was previously used. This can offer greater confidence than purchasing an unknown recycled resin from an outside source. Toll grinding can also support sustainability and waste-reduction goals. Reclaiming useful thermoplastics may reduce the amount of material sent to landfills while decreasing the need to purchase an equivalent amount of new resin. The potential savings and environmental benefits will depend on the material, processing requirements, transportation, and percentage of regrind that can be used in the finished application. Reaction Polymers can also purchase qualifying scrap when returning the material is not the best option. This gives manufacturers flexibility to choose between selling their plastic and having it processed for their own reuse. Contact Reaction Polymers to discuss the resin type, form, volume, cleanliness, and intended application for your post-industrial plastic.