Glossary

120 l Refuse sacks
700mm x 1100mm refuse sacks.

Premium goods
Factory-new granulate.

Bio-degradable materials
Colloquial term for plastic made of compostable materials.

Blend
Plastics mixed together for example by blending granulate material which then melt during the extrusion process.

Compounding
Preparation of plastics.

Cracking
Process for the manufacture of ethylene.

Dart-drop value
Dart-drop test, measured in mJ (Joules)/mm. This test provides information about the durability of the plastic refuse sack material used when subjected to a sudden, local mechanical load.

Defined recycling material
Recyclable materials whose composition and origin are known and therefore also the melt index. For example, PREMIUM products from Deiss.

Ethylene
An unsaturated hydrocarbon, important as the basic material for the plastics industry.

Extruder
Also know as a worm extruder. The plastic is compressed and melted in the extruder. Also used colloquially to refer to the whole machine used to manufacture plastic sheet material.

Elasticity of plastic sheet material
Measured in percentage terms. Elasticity of the plastic sheet material measured up to the point of failure when the sheet rips or tears.

Catalyst
A material that has an influence on the reaction time of a chemical process.

Carbon dioxide
CO2, found in large quantities in the earth’s atmosphere.

Block bottom
Glued bottom - has the effect, particularly with paper refuse sacks, of creating a flat surface at the bottom of the bag, allowing it to stand in an open, upright position.

my (µ)
Unit of measurement for sheet thickness. 1µ= 0.001mm.

Naphtha
A distillation of crude oil, which is used to make ethylene.

Non-standard goods
"Non-standard" goods are goods which due to sub-optimal production do not have the material characteristics to fulfil their original purpose. These products are put to other uses.

HDPE
High-density polyethylene has very few lateral branches in the molecular chains in comparison to low-density polyethylene. This results in higher density of molecular chain packing.

LDPE
Low-density polyethylene has very many lateral branches and therefore lower density.

LLDPE
Linear low-density polyethylene has similar polymer chains to HDPE but with many more lateral branches.

MDPE
Medium-density polyethylene has a similar structure to HDPE.

Polyethylene
A polymer made out of ethylene. One of the most widely used plastics around the world. When burned it produces CO2 and steam and is residue-free.

Polymer
A chemical bond, comprising chains or branches of molecules.

Production waste
Waste materials produced during manufacture.

Recycling material
Materials that can be re-used.

Regeneration
Process to reclaim materials, see also Recycling material.

Regenerate
Reclaiming materials, see also Recycling material.

Regranulate
Regenerated material made into granulate.

Melt index
TTemperature at which polyethylene melts.

Slit Sealing
A flat foil hose is passed over a roll, and directly after the roll, the material is slit with a heated knife blade, the slit edges being sealed by dragging along the sides of the heated blade. This method is e.g. used to make two foil hoses out of one single hose. In this case the knife blade is cutting lengthwise with the hose.

Spot market
A stock exchange term and refers to delivery, goods receipt and payment within a very short time period, where long-term supply of the product is unlikely.

Wave-top bags
Refuse sacks with a pre-cut top that can be tied together and thus close the bag.

Draw-string refuse sacks
Refuse sacks with integrated plastic draw-strings running around the top of the bag. The refuse sack is closed by simply pulling on the two loops.