Plastics Disposal
Fact Sheet on Plastics - Economics are Key Factor in Determining Which Plastic Items are Recycled
Objective: This fact sheet describes some of the basic facts about plastics and provides information that is necessary when considering curbside recycling for any and all plastics.
Background
All plastics are not equal. In fact there are more than a half dozen different types of plastics either in terms of their chemical composition or in the way they react under heat.
The plastics industry a decade ago voluntarily marked plastic containers with what it called "the Plastic Container Code System." The purpose of the code was to put in place a nationally recognized voluntary material identification system that could aid processors of plastic recyclables and thereby add to the purity and value of materials. The code is very familiar to the public. It is found on the bottom of all plastic containers, bottles and tubs that come into the household. A recycling symbol with a number in its center means not that this item is recyclable, but rather that the number will identify what type of plastic is used in the manufacture of the container.
Code Material
  |
Poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET) |  |
High density polyethylene (HDPE) | |
 |
Vinyl/polyvinyl chloride (PVC) |  |
Low density polyethylene | |
 |
Polypropylene |  |
Polystyrene | |
 |
All other resins/multi-materials |
The EPA notes that every decade sees growing amounts of plastic in household trash. In 1960 there was so small an amount, that it was not even quantified. Today, plastic is the second highest component behind paper, with 0.5 and 1.7 pounds respectively per person per day. The average person discards 4.5 pounds of trash per day as of 2000 EPA reports.
Plastic makes up about 10% of municipal solid waste, the things households and businesses discard for disposal as waste or recyclables according to EPA studies. With an estimated 220 million tons expected in the waste stream in 2000, plastics will reach 22 million tons up from 6.7 million tons in 1990. Every year new products appear packaged in plastic. Forty years ago, the plastic bag was not even invented. Twenty years ago there was no CD. A decade ago, peanut butter came in a glass jar; soda was in either aluminum or glass; today both food items are in plastic.
An important factor driving the use of plastic in packaging is cost, convenience and safety. Lighter containers/bottles mean lower shipping costs, less breakage and easier handling. Shrink wrapping food and medicines became a common practice in marketing products after incidences of customer tampering with packages as occurred in the Tylenol poisonings around 1980.
Plastic also offered attractive features in its design and pliability that enhanced product use. For instance, the squeeable catsup bottle is easier to use than a glass catsup bottle.
Single serve containers, first in fast food restaurants and now in the home, provide convenience at the same time that they increase trash.
What kind of plastic is in the typical household’s discards? Union Carbide Chemicals and Plastics, Inc. has quantified the amount of non-putrescibly contaminated plastic in a typical household’s waste as shown below in terms of number of containers.
| Code Material | % of all plastics | % of all waste |
| 1 PET | 20% | 2.18% |
| 2 HDPE bottles | 59% | 6.43% |
| 2 HDPE non-bottles | 7 % | 0.8% |
| 3 Vinyl, polyvinyl chloride | 2% | 0.2% |
| 4 Low density polyethylene | 5% | 0.55% |
| 5 Polypropylene | 4% | 0.4% |
| 6 Polystyrene | 2% | 0.2% |
| 7 Other mixed resins | 1% | 0.1% |
The National Scene
Just recently, some national lobbying organizations have recommended the collection of all plastics with the objective of capturing more of the plastic #1 and #2 bottles. These organizations, like NAPCOR and the National Soft Drink Association, admit that in many instances, however, only the #1 and #2 bottles are harvested for recycling from the stream of plastics while the remainder (non #1 and #2 bottles and #3 through #7 containers) is disposed of as trash. This practice suggests that just because communities collect all plastics, they are not always recycled.
