Plastic Container Recycling
Post-consumer plastic recycling was barely an issue when Ohio’s solid waste management system was set up in the late 1980s. But the use of plastic in packaging has skyrocketed, and recycling has had a hard time keeping up.
As of 1999, only 5.6 percent of plastics discarded in the United States were recovered for recycling. The recycling rate was somewhat better for plastic containers and packaging – 9.7 percent – in part because community recycling programs have focused on collecting plastic liquid containers made from PET and HDPE plastics (see Plastic resin identification code, page 3).
PET bottles – used widely for soft drinks, bottled water and other beverages – were recycled at a 40 percent rate in 1999. HDPE bottles and jugs – such as plastic milk jugs and bottles for laundry detergent and motor oil – were recovered at a 30.9 percent rate.
Society has enjoyed immense benefits from plastic, including greater energy efficiency. But plastics are derived from natural gas and petroleum — finite resources — and our ability to fully integrate plastic into the recycling loop is one of the biggest tests of America’s willingness and ability to manage these resources responsibly.
Markets for recycled plastic
Any extra effort you take to recycle is appreciated, but such efforts are particularly important now for plastic containers. The U.S. plastics industry has the capacity to process more plastic containers than Americans currently recycle.
Most plastics cannot be collected in a post-consumer recycling program in sufficient quantity to be recycled economically. The exceptions – PET used to make beverage bottles and HDPE used to make milk jugs and containers – are used in 90 percent of plastic container production.
The primary market for post-consumer PET has been the textile industry and carpet makers. PET bottles convert easily to polyester cloth and are used to make the fill for many insulated winter coats and jackets. Half the polyester carpet in America is made from recycled PET. In 2001 Phoenix Technologies, a northeast Ohio plastics firm, developed an FDA-approved method of purifying post-consumer PET so it can be reused to make new drink bottles, and that market is starting to develop. Coca-Cola, a partner in that research, now averages 10 percent recycled content in its plastic beverage containers.
Recycled HDPE still cannot be used to make new beverage containers, but it is used to make bottles for laundry detergent, motor oil, other household and automotive products and other heavy liquids.
Recycled HDPE is also used to make some plastic lumber products like marine decking, picnic tables and park benches. Long appreciated for their durability and ease of maintenance, some plastic lumber products are now made to American Society of Testing and Materials, allowing architects and contractors to use plastic lumber with greater confidence.
There are some uses for mixed plastics. Mondo Polymer Technologies in southern Ohio uses mixed post-consumer plastic to make products for the transportation and highway industries such as guardrail blocks, wheel chocks and scuffliners for tractor-trailers.
Conservation benefits of plastic recycling
• On average, recycling a ton of plastic saves about as much energy as is stored in 197 gallons of gasoline.
• Plastic containers and packaging in the waste stream have increased rapidly, from 120,000 tons in 1960 to 11.2 million tons in 1999, a figure that does not include trash bags or single-serving plates, cups or utensils.
• About 1,200 soft drink and salad dressing containers could carpet the average living room.
• It takes 1,050 HDPE (#2) milk jugs to make a six-foot plastic lumber park bench.
• Plastics are made from oil and natural gas, finite natural resources, so recycling plastic helps conserve fossil fuels. About 2.7 percent of crude oil extracted each year is used as feedstock for plastics and other petrochemical products.
17.04.2007. 07:57
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