Recycling thermoplastics is possible but recycling thermosetting plastics is not, because thermosetting plastics
- A. are always coloured
- B. are made from natural materials
- C. cannot be melted and reshaped once their cross links have formed
- D. dissolve in water
Explanation
The permanent covalent network of a thermoset means heating it decomposes the material rather than softening it, so it can only be ground into filler or burnt for energy recovery. A thermoplastic has independent chains held by weak forces, so it can be melted and re-formed many times. This is why sorting plastic waste by type is the first step in any recycling scheme.
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