The article in the url below contains some useful facts about plastics and our (extremely limited) capacity to recycle them:
"[In 2018] the U.S. manufactured 35.7 million tons of the stuff in a single year. … More than 90% of plastics generated in the U.S. each year winds up in landfills or incinerators, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Only about 9% is recycled."
Central to understanding why such a low percentage is recycled is understanding the various types of plastic, which are identified by "a triangle made of three arrows enclosing a resin-identification code—a digit from 1 to 7 that indicates the type of plastic." While the 1s, 2s, and 5s have some (variable) value, the rest have a negative market value (meaning someone has to be paid to take them away):
"No. 1 plastics, including water bottles and clear plastic cups, sell for around 13 cents a pound. Clear (meaning undyed) No. 2 plastics, including milk jugs and shampoo and detergent bottles, fetch 60 cents to 70 cents a pound. And No. 5 plastics, including yogurt containers, prescription bottles and bottle caps, draw around 30 cents a pound. Aluminum gets about 55 cents a pound."
In contrast:
"… there's little or no domestic market for No. 3 plastics made of PVC, or polyvinyl chloride; No. 4 plastics, such as plastic film and frozen-food bags, made of low-density polyethylene; No. 6 plastics, including party cups and plastic utensils, made of polystyrene; or No. 7 plastics, a catchall category for all other resins."
What those recycled materials become again depends on the type of plastic:
"Of the resins that do get recycled, almost 100% of clear No. 2 plastics are turned into new packaging, Mr. Bell said, while the colored versions often end up as black agricultural piping. About 25% of the No. 1 plastics become new bottles, with the remainder primarily used for clothing and carpets. And No. 5 plastics are used for items such as paint cans, toothbrushes or deodorant sticks."
And, if you are not cleaning the material properly before you recycle it, your effort might be to no end:
"In general, … plastics should be washed and dried before they're tossed into a recycling bin. Labels don't need to be removed, and caps can be left on, even if they're made of a different resin."
And, it seems, if you put your plastics in a plastic bag before recycling them, they almost certainly will not be recycled:
"Processing facilities won't open black bags. Clear bags have the potential to get tangled in machinery."
The graph that accompanies the article indicates how far we still have to go to any kind of sustainable economic system (at least, in terms of plastic usage):
If we really care about reducing the amount of plastic waste in our environment, it seems that the only way to ensure that goal is achieved is to use less of it in the first place.
Take care
David
David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2020
Instructor Teaching and Student Study Site: https://study.sagepub.com/chandler5e
Strategic CSR Simulation: http://www.strategiccsrsim.com/
The library of CSR Newsletters are archived at: https://strategiccsr-sage.blogspot.com/
This Plastic Recyclable? Depends on the Sort
By Jo Craven McGinty
April 24-25, 2021
The Wall Street Journal
Late Edition – Final
A2
