Facts About Plastic Waste

It would be hard to imagine a world without plastic. We value it for its wide range of practical uses and for its inexpensive nature compared to other alternative products; however, there is a downside. As the use of plastic continues to increase, the amount of plastic waste that ends up in trash cans and landfills ultimately increases as well. Fortunately, the recycling of plastic helps reduce many of the undesirable side effects associated with its consumption, while also creating markets for new products that can be made from the recovered waste.

Consumption Statistics

• In 2008, the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream in the U.S.---which is essentially the sum of all domestic and sometimes commercial trash---contained about 30 million tons of plastic waste. About 13 million tons came specifically from containers and packaging, almost seven million tons came from nondurable goods and almost 11 million tons were from durable goods. Plastics represented 12 percent of the total MSW generated in 2008, compared to only 1 percent in 1960.

Categories

• Plastic and its consequential waste can be broken down into and analyzed by individual categories. The largest category is composed of containers and packaging from products such as soda bottles, milk jugs and lids. The durable plastic category includes products like appliances and furniture that are designed for use over an extended period of time. Nondurable plastics include things like diapers, cups, trash bags and medical devices.

Recycling

• The recycling of plastic waste creates both economic and environmental benefits. Not only does recycling keep plastic out of landfills, but it also reduces the strain on natural resources that are used to make new plastic. Once it's been collected from curb-side bins or drop-off sites, the plastic waste makes its way to a material recovery facility where it is sorted, baled and sent to a reclaiming facility. It is then thoroughly cleaned and ground up into small flakes. Any remaining contaminants are separated out in a flotation tank, and the flakes are then dried, melted, filtered and reshaped into pellets. Manufacturing plants use these plastic pellets to make new products.

Resin Identification Codes

• Consumers can look at the resin identification code on plastic products to see if that particular type of plastic waste is recyclable in their area. These codes were established by the Society of Plastic Industries in 1988, and serve to separate items into seven different categories based on resin content. The symbol used for resin identification codes is a triangle composed of three arrows pointing in clockwise directions (just like the symbol for recycling), with the code number in the center.

Recovered Waste Markets

• The demand for recovered plastic waste currently exceeds the supply; the capacity to process post-consumer plastics is also greater than the amount that is actually being processed. Products from the PET resin category---which are things like water bottles or food jars---are primarily reused to create fibers for carpet and textile markets, and sometimes even for clothing such as fleece jackets. HDPE coded products are initially items like milk containers or shopping bag, and can be recycled for use in bottle-making markets, as well as in the manufacturing of items like lawn chairs.