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Plastic Recycling Problems

With 80 percent of Americans having access to some type of plastic recycling program, certain plastics have a high recycling rate and the plastics recycling business continues to grow, according to Earth 911. Despite the relative success of plastic recycling, plastic recycling programs still face problems such as public misconceptions and inefficiencies in the process.

  1. Curbside Programs

    • Communities that offer curbside plastic recycling do not accept all types of plastic, according to Earth 911. If you want to recycle certain materials made with plastic, such as grocery bags, you usually have to either find a recycling center on your own, or know retail locations that take various goods; grocery stores, for example, often take bags.

    Profitability

    • Recycling plastic requires a large amount of help to sort between the different types of plastic--reducing its profitability, according to Packaging Today. Although plastic bottles enjoy a high recycling rate, the overall plastic recycling rate hovers around 5 percent annually. Products such as cellphones that use several types of plastic are much harder to sort than items that use one type of plastic, like containers.

    Misconceptions

    • Plastic recycling promotes the consumer culture and detracts from the best possible solution to the plastic trash problem--source reduction, according to Ecology Center. While more environmentally friendly than just putting plastic in a landfill, using permanent, refillable containers reduces the need for plastics in the first place.

    Contamination

    • Like with all plastics loads, contamination by debris or other types of plastic can prevent recyclers from using or selling a batch of recycled plastic, according to Obviously Enterprises. In addition, not all plastics are recyclable--the arrow and number on all plastics simply identifies the type of resin. Also, certain colors of plastic are considered useless at times due to variability in market demands.

    Tips

    • When looking for a recycling center to take your type of plastic or specific plastic products, consider using Earth 911's plastic recycling locator. When sorting through your plastic waste, avoid putting type 7 plastic in with other recyclables--type 7 plastics are a mixed resin and almost never recoverable.

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