Who doesn’t love a good dose of facts with their morning cup of joe?

Knowing the facts can help you make smarter choices in the end. We put together a quick cheat sheet of facts about plastics recycling from some experts.

It’s about to get a little geeky, so sit back, push up your glasses and enjoy your coffee!

Plastics industry as a whole
1. While overall recovery of plastics for recycling is relatively small – 2.1 million tons, or 6.8 percent of plastics generation in 2008 – recovery of some plastic containers has reached higher levels. PET soft drink bottles were recovered at a rate of 37 percent in 2008. Recovery of HDPE milk and water bottles was estimated at about 28 percent in 2008.

Source: U.S. EPA

2. The amount of plastics generation in municipal solid waste (MSW) has increased from less than 1 percent in 1960 to 12.0 percent in 2008.
Source: U.S. EPA

3. Today, 80 percent of Americans have access to a plastics recycling program.

Source: American Chemistry Council

4. In 2008, the United States generated about 13 million tons of plastics in the MSW stream as containers and packaging, almost 7 million tons as nondurable goods, and almost 11 million tons as durable goods. The total amount of plastics in MSW – about 30 million tons – represented 12 percent of total MSW generation in 2008.

Source: U.S. EPA

Plastic bottles
1. Americans buy an estimated 29.8 billion plastic water bottles every year. An estimated eight out of every 10 of these bottles will end up in a landfill.

Source: Container Recycling Institute

2. Plastics are a rapidly growing segment of the MSW stream. The largest category of plastics are found in containers and packaging (e.g., soft drink bottles, lids, shampoo bottles), but they also are found in durable (e.g., appliances, furniture) and nondurable goods (e.g., diapers, trash bags, cups and utensils, medical devices).

Source: U.S. EPA

3. The total pounds of plastic bottles recycled reached a record high 2,410 million pounds in 2008.

Source: American Chemistry Council

4. The 11 states that require small, refundable deposits on water bottles and other beverage containers recycle 490 beverage containers per capita annually, compared to 191 per capita in the other 39 states.

Source: Container Recycling Institute

Plastic bags
1. Film recovery has increased by 28 percent since 2005. Recovery grew to an estimated 832,394,000 pounds of post-consumer film (including plastic bags) in 2008.

Source: American Chemistry Council

2. As a result of 2009’s International Coastal Cleanup, the Ocean Conservancy found that plastic bags placed second (1.1 million), accounting for one out of every 10 items removed and tallied.

Source: Ocean Conservancy

3. Most grocery stores throughout the U.S. now offer plastic bag recycling since most curbside programs do not accept plastic bags. Due to their light weight, they can easily get stuck inside machinery when recycled.

Source: American Chemistry Council

4. Standard polyethylene bags don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade. When exposed to ultraviolet radiation from sunlight, polyethylene’s polymer chains become brittle and start to crack. This suggests that plastic bags will eventually fragment into microscopic granules.

Source: Slate

Plastic resin codes
Plastic household containers are usually marked with a number that indicates the type of plastic. Consumers can then use this information to determine whether or not certain plastic types are collected for recycling in their area.

#1 PET, PETE (water and soda bottles, food jars and microwaveable food trays)
• Plastic #1 is one of the most common and highly recycled resins.

• Most curbside programs will accept this plastic in bottle form.

• Plastic #1 is also the main resin targeted with container deposit laws, also called bottle bills.

Read more – 360: Recycling Plastic Bottles



#2 HDPE (plastic bags, milk jugs, detergent bottles, water and soda bottles)
• Recycled plastic #2 content can be found in plastic lumber, buckets and crates, bottles for non-food items (shampoo, detergent, motor oil) and even curbside recycling bins themselves.

Read more – 360: Recycling Plastic Bags

#3 PVC (blister packs, clamshell containers, bags, pipes, some building materials)
• PVC is not commonly recycled or recyclable, nor is it biodegradable.

• More than 7 billion pounds of PVC are thrown away in the U.S. annually, and only 18 million pounds – barely one-quarter of 1 percent – is recycled.

Read more – The Ultimate Plastic Breakdown

#4 LDPE (bags, shrink wrap, coating for paper milk cartons and beverage cups, container lids, squeezable bottles)
• Because plastic #4 is often in film form, it is sometimes not accepted in curbside recycling programs.

• Its material is similar to plastic bags, and some major grocery store chains will accept this plastic packaging for recycling.

Read more – 360: Recycling Plastic Containers

#5 PP (bottle caps, medicine bottles, yogurt cups)
• Polypropylene has a good chemical resistance, a high melting point and is a strong material.

• It’s ideal for reusable food containers and other packaging that requires durability. But while this resin is as common as a ketchup bottle, it’s still often left out of curbside programs.

Read more – 360: Recycling Plastic #5

#6 PS (takeout containers, foam packaging, packing peanuts, CD cases)
• While most curbside programs do not accept plastic #6 or EPS, there are several community programs that will recycle the material.

• If there are no programs that fit your specific needs or are near your location, AFPR offers a mail-in program for consumers.

Read more – 360: Recycling Plastic #6

#7 Other (bio-based plastics made from corn, potato or sugar derivatives, 3- and 5-gallon reusable water bottles)
• Plastic #7 the catch-all category for those plastic products that do not fit into 1-6.

• These plastics are multi-layered combinations of more than one plastic resin.

Read more – Recycling Mystery: Plastic #7

Earth911 partners with many industries, manufacturers and organizations to support its Recycling Directory, the largest in the nation, which is provided to consumers at no cost. The American Chemistry Council is one of these partners.

This article was reprinted with permission from Earth911.com.