Recycling of plastics, carpeting and other polymer materials is increasing as more of these products are being recovered, recycled and reused by consumers and recycling facilities. Post-industrial and post-consumer materials need to be accurately identified and sorted to achieve high quality reprocessed material.

Plastic materials are used to manufacture many types of products from toys to furniture. Each year tons of plastics are discarded and often end up consuming an enormous amount of space in landfills across the country. Increasingly, more of this material is being recovered, recycled, and reused by consumers and recycling facilities.

Recycling rates have been a challenge due to the complexity of sorting and processing. Many counties offer programs to encourage consumers to recycle plastic containing products. The resulting mixed plastics are sent to large sorting facilities where they are processed. In order to achieve a high quality of reprocessed material, plastics need to be accurately identified and properly sorted.