Plastic recycling: what does and does not get recycled
All plastic is recyclable. That is, it is possible to make and sell new products from any kind of plastic. Very little plastic actually gets recycled. There are two major reasons for the low rate of plastic recycling.
First, most recycling by individuals takes place through municipal recycling collection programs. Those programs do not accept all kinds of plastic. Second, too many people do not participate in these collection programs at all. At best, their plastic will wind up in a landfill, where it can contribute to leachate. If it’s not properly managed, that leachate can pollute ground water. What doesn’t make it to the landfill winds up as litter–on land and sea–where it becomes hazardous to wild life.
When you look at a piece of plastic to decide whether you can put it out with the recycling, you look for a recycling symbol to see what number is in it. Not everything has a symbol at all. Many municipalities accept only numbers one and two. That doesn’t mean that no other recycling possibilities exist, but most people will look no farther.
No. 1 — PET or PETE (polyethylene terephthalate)
The most common plastic for single-use beverage bottles, PETE is also found in bottles and jars for mouthwash, salad dressings, peanut butter, and vegetable oil containers, as well as the kind of plastic food trays you can put in the oven. I have written earlier about how these bottles can be used to make polyester fabric. Other products made with recycled PETE include polar fleece, tote bags, furniture, carpet, and paneling. Nearly all curbside recycling programs accept PETE, and demand is high among remanufacturers. Nevertheless, only about 20% get recycled.
No. 2 — HDPE (high density polyethylene)
Beverages not bottled in PETE, notably milk, juice, and some gallon water jugs, likely come in HDPE. So does detergent, bleach, and other household cleaners; shampoo and motor oil; and butter and yogurt. Some trash and shopping bags, as well as cereal box liners, are also made of HDPE.
Municipal recycling programs usually accept HDPE, although some allow only certain shapes. Recycled HDPE turns up in new bottles (for stuff like laundry detergent and motor oil, not food), drainage pipe, floor tile, and lumber for benches, fences, picnic tables, and doghouses.
If PETE has a very low recycling rate, HDPE has to be even lower because of the restrictions some municipalities place on what shapes of this plastic they will accept.
Continues to plastics 3-7
