Galvanised Formers – Transforming Your Garbage
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Just how do your recyclables make it from your kitchen, un-separated from each other, into the plastic bags you pick up at your local shop? Maybe you have never given it a second thought, but if you happen to be one of those concerned consumers, then it has likely crossed your mind more than once. After all, you set all of your recycling on the curb in one container – plastic with glass and aluminium, and within that you just know that every type of plastic you use has a different number within the recycling symbol on the bottom of the packet.
So how does it all get transported and sorted? The simple answer is that it is a process, with wire involved at nearly every step along the way.
Different Types of Wire
There is hardly one type of wire that is commonly used in the world today. Different jobs require different wires. What you use to hang your clothes is hardly the same wire used to transport steel from the stockholders to the construction site. But, while there are many different types of wires, they can be largely grouped.
• Cold Wire – This is a basic form of wire. It is made by pulling, or drawing steel (or other metals, when required) until it reaches the desired diameter. This is either left untreated if it is only needed for a short period and will not be exposed to the elements, or it can be coated in plastic to form items like clothing hanger and shopping trolleys.
• Black Annealed Wire – This is one of the most common forms of wire available on the market. This is essentially cold wire that has been heated until it regains its ductility in a process known as annealing. The descriptive, black, is what naturally happens to any metal when it is heated to certain temperatures. This type of wire has its own end purposes, such as baling wire, but it also serves as a tool used within the galvanising industry.
• Galvanised Wire – In order to ensure that wire is not only strong and flexible, but also not susceptible to the elements, it undergoes a process whereby steel wire is combined with another metal. Zinc is the most commonly used element. During the galvanising process, cold wire is submerged in a molten bath of zinc, or zinc oxide. The result is a stronger, more resilient wire that can withstand the weather without rusting. And, rather than the zinc as simply a coating, it becomes part of the steel wire while not negating the strength of the steel.
Different Forms of Galvanised Wire
Galvanised wire has many different uses. Because it is inherently resilient, it is used for baling, transporting and storing many other items. One of its main uses is baling within the waste management and recycling industries. But, because this can entail many different things depending on the part of the process it is used, galvanised wire is sold in a couple of different forms.
• Formers – This is an exceedingly common form of galvanised wire. Essentially it refers to the way it is wound and sold. Formers are very large coils, complete with their own stands and ordered as such. Galvanised formers are used to supply automatic baling machines, and, therefore, must be made to exacting specifications. Without precision in the diameter and winding of the formers, serious accidents are likely at the plants where they are used.
• Cut and Looped Lengths – Unlike formers which are fed into baling machines that do the bulk of the work, cut and looped lengths of galvanised wire are required for manual tying of bundles, or bales. Cut and looped lengths are also used within waste management industries, but they also have other uses, such as the transport of other materials to construction sites, or for airlifting precious cargo. Although it would seem as though precision is not as relevant here as it is for formers, knowing that the selected wire is capable of assisting with the airlift of crates requires accuracy.
Galvanised Formers and the Waste Management Industries
Whether your black bin waste is headed to a landfill or an incineration plant, it will follow the same basic path, usually beginning with its transport to a holding area. Although not all landfill waste is compacted and bundled, this is becoming more common as it helps to manage not only the space, but also the health and safety regulations that go with it. From the holding area, garbage typically undergoes a compacting and bundling process before heading onto the plant that will burn it for fuel generation, or the land that will house it until all waste can be safely incinerated or recycled.
When it comes to recycling, the use of galvanised formers is much easier to understand. All those products that you set outside one day a week are sent to a sorting facility. Many different mechanisms are used to sort the various plastics and polystyrenes from each other. They are then bundled and secured using baling wire and automated baling machines (most of the time). From here, bales are sent off to the plants that are actually responsible for transforming our old goods into new ones. And, once they have completed this step of the process, the newly formed raw materials are once again bundled and baled with the use of wire and stored until they are shipped off to another factory.
Basically, without wire, the process would not only be unwieldy, but also quite tedious, and rather dangerous. Fortunately, galvanised wire is available for manufacture to any tensile specification, and in diameters ranging from 2.7mm to 4mm, and sold as formers to make the baling, and entire waste management process, infinitely easier to handle. However, only a few manufacturers, such as D R Baling Wire Manufacturers, are able to complete the entire galvanising and coiling process to the precision that is demanded within the industry.
Want more information on galvanised formers for your industry? Call the experts at D R Baling Wire Manufactures who are always here to help you! We may even be able to develop something new to suit your needs.
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