What’s the Difference Between Open-Loop and Closed-Loop Recycling?

Open-Loop vs. Closed Loop Recycling

As the world’s population continues to grow and natural resources continue to deplete, it is now more necessary than ever for businesses and consumers to recycle manufactured items. In recycling, there are two primary types of procedures: open-loop recycling and closed-loop recycling. These processes differ in terms of the overall sustainability of the supply chain of the raw materials processed, thus it is vital to be familiar with both types.

In the recycling industry, open-loop recycling is a procedure that allows for the postponement of trash disposal by transforming manufactured items into both new raw materials (which can be utilized as manufacturing inputs) and waste products. Open-loop recycling, by contrast, is a recycling process in which a manufactured good is recycled back into itself or a similar product without undergoing significant degradation or producing trash.

Open-Loop Recycling

Generally speaking, open-loop recycling is any recycling process in which the recycled materials are turned into new raw materials and waste products at the same time. Typically, materials recovered through open-loop recycling are repurposed for uses that are distinct from those for which they were originally intended before being recycled. Thus, the input to a recycler’s operation is transformed into a fresh raw material that is capable of being employed as an input into another manufacturing process.

Open-loop recycling procedures often entail processing a variety of different types of items with similar material makeup while also altering the qualities of the recycled material (through heat, chemical reactions, or physical crushing). Open-loop recycling is frequently connected with deterioration of the material being recycled as well as the loss of attached elements that are not recycled (such as bottle labels and adhesives). Open-loop recycling is also referred to as downcycling or reprocessing, depending on the context.

Ordinarily, open-loop recycling procedures are employed by government recycling programs. By purchasing single-use manufactured goods, buyers are removing the raw materials that were needed to create those things from the supply chain of a corporation that produced the commodities. After being recycled, these items are blended with similar products that include a variety of components other than the targeted recyclable material, resulting in trash.

Closed-Loop Recycling

Closed-loop recycling is concerned with the long-term viability of supply chains. Closed-loop systems are being created so that all of the materials used in manufactured goods can be recycled, and the materials are typically used in the same sort of product again and again. The production process is frequently planned with recycling in mind when it comes to closed-loop recycling. Aluminum can recycling is an example of a closed-loop recycling process since aluminum can be recycled to make new cans with little degradation of the original material or formation of waste during the process.

Specialty industries such as the computer and battery industries, which use expensive or complicated commodities that cannot be easily broken down into constituent elements after they have been consumed, are prominent examples of closed-loop recycling practices. Closed-loop recycling is concerned with returning products to the company or industry where they were originally manufactured so that they can be reused or refurbished without causing material loss.