Plastic Shopping Bags

How Plastic Shopping Bags are Made

The initial stage in producing plastic bags is extracting the raw material. Polyethylene can be produced using either refined oil or natural gas that has been fractured. These hydrocarbons must be accessed and extracted using drilling wells because they are underground.

Then, a refinery receives the refined oil or cracked natural gas. Petroleum is divided into different densities at the refinery. This enables the extraction of the oil needed for the production of polymers. To ensure that only pure polyethylene chains are separated, the gas or oil is compressed and heated. These chains must be separated for them to be polymerized into resin pellets made entirely of plastic.

Resin pellets with various densities will be created using a range of pressure and heat levels, and they can be utilized for everything from grocery bags to plastic shopping bags. For instance, high-density polyethylene is frequently used to make shopping bags because it has better tensile strength than low-density polyethylene (LDPE) or linear low-density polyethylene plastic films (LLDPE).

Making raw pellets is done by the process of plastic film extrusion. Raw LDPE, HDPE, or LLDPE plastic pellets must be pressurized and heated to extreme temperatures to produce a uniform molten liquid. The resin is pressed onto a circular die after producing the liquid.

The hot resin is then blown upward or outward to form a long, thin balloon of extremely malleable plastic film. The plastic bubble condenses as it continues to expand, and as it comes into contact with many rollers, it is stretched into very thin sheets that will serve as the bag walls. The sheets are loaded into the printing device on two separate flat beds after being coiled up.

In the last phase, the two printed sheets are first pressed together to form the bag's sides. Depending on the application of the bag, the plastic can be twisted and cut to the best shape. Perforations and other extra adjustments can be applied here.

Advantages of Plastic Shopping Bags

• Studies comparing plastic and paper shopping bags have shown that plastic bags have less impact on the environment than paper bags, take less energy to create, and are easier to transport and recycle. However, the ingredients and manufacturing process used to make a plastic bag will determine whether it may be recycled.
• Furthermore, studies showed that plastic bag recycling rates are far lower than paper bag recycling rates. Additionally, plastic bags, particularly the bigger ones, can be utilized as trash or recycling bags.
• Plastic bags, as opposed to paper bags, are water-proofed, making them impervious to water. They will therefore guard whatever you keep in them as a result.
• Additionally, they can block off oxygen thanks to their natural makeup. This function is quite helpful because it allows you to wrap them around food items to store them for longer.
• They are effective electrical insulators, and to round off their advantages, making them does not hurt the environment in the same way as making paper bags does, which requires cutting down trees.

Disadvantages of Plastic Shopping Bags

• Small children are at risk of suffocation in plastic bags if they are not kept away from them.
• Most plastic bags are flammable, especially those composed of polymers. As a result, they burn easily when they come into contact with a heat source.
• These bags also contain PE or PP, which releases CO gas when burned at a low temperature. CO gas is a dangerous gas with no color or smell. Make sure to keep your plastic bags away from any potential fires as a result.
• Some plastic bags contain compounds that harm the environment and human health. Some even break down and release toxic metals into the ground.
• Last but not least, plastic bags can break, especially if they are carrying something heavy.

Choosing the Correct Plastic Shopping Bag Supplier

To ensure you have the most positive outcome when purchasing plastic shopping bags from a plastic shopping bag supplier, it is important to compare several companies using our directory of plastic shopping bag suppliers. Each plastic shopping bag supplier has a business profile page highlighting their areas of experience and capabilities, along with a contact form to directly communicate with the supplier for more information or request a quote. Review each plastic shopping bag business website using our proprietary website previewer to quickly learn what each company specializes in. Then, use our simple RFQ form to contact multiple plastic shopping bag companies with the same form.