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For plastics it really depends on what it is. For example the best overall plastic to work with is HDPE. You can get your hands on the stuff relatively regularly from things like containers (Milk gallons, detergent containers for example) ... One thing you can do is if you run across decommissioned store freight containers (Uline or another competitive brand) many times they will have fractures in them or other damage. With a heat gun and quite a few slices of HDPE plastic melted into the fracture or impurity you can restore functionality to bins of this type. I have personally done this successfully with quite a few of my (formerly decommissioned freight bins) ...
The other category which it is possible to do it with is PP plastic. This would be specific to my other primary container (Home Depot black HDX 27-gallon totes). As far as consumer grade containers go, they are fairly cheap in 2026 at around $10 per bin... However you can repair these bins with PP Plastic, which you can find in many household containers.
It is important to remember if you happen to partake in plastic surgery as I have mentioned you first understand your original material you wish to repair and strictly match the donor material with the material. HDPE will not work effectively with PP plastic and others. The second thing you need to be aware of is the possibility of fumes and microplastics in the process. It's best to be done outdoors if you need to do it.
The last thing if someone were so inclined (I am not one who is) ... But should you have enough of the same like-minded material, you can in theory, slow cook your material into sheets of plastic, which can be used in future fabrication. There is a lot of cost associated with this and a lot of technical know-how which frankly is above my paygrade. I know it is entirely possible with HDPE plastic as the recycling industry does in fact make a consorted effort to recycle this form of plastic. It has a fairly low melting point, is very malleable, and can be melted over-and-over again with minimal if any molecular loss of integrity...
There are MANY problems with effectively working the plastics game. First, there is so much new plastic entering the supply chain that is nearly waste product for petroleum production. It is offloaded for pennies on the dollar to manufacturers who put it into nearly everything and next to no cost to acquire. The second problem is limited information on what one plastic is to the next. HDPE and PP are easy to identify, have well known applications and can be recycled and repurposed, Many other plastics like PET, PLA, and other blends are perfectly fine for initial fabrication. They however unlike the aforementioned, cannot be effectively recycled as they will experience molecular loss of integrity. Another tremendous problem facing plastic is the difficulty in sorting. One article can have three or more different plastic grades, which require separation. If there was a value to be had in the separation and sale of those materials then there would be people who do it similar to e-scrap or the scrap game. But even with those efforts, recycled (often contaminated) plastics have to compete with near valueless virgin plastics.
To even hammer it home further, a quick look on eBay at 3d printing filament, as of the time of writing this, you can effectively get filament at roughly $10/pound. It sounds good, but in order to manufacture filament it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to set up this sort of operation. That large expense in order to make... $20 before free shipping, and commission. With this if somebody could figure out how to do it themselves with recycled plastic it's basically free money for them. But there's no way to scale it effectively at this time.
I personally believe we are 20-30 years before we will see a breakthrough in the plastics recycling game, but it will be reserved for the big dogs only. I don't think its a industry we will ever see take off for the little guy.
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**Please keep in mind that my assessments on board quality are personal in nature
Abbreviations
HGT - High Grade Telecom
LGT - Low Grade Telecom
HGP - High Grade Peripherial
LGP - Low Grade Peripherial
MGB - Mid-Grade Board
LGB - Low-Grade Board
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