Plastic Recycling Company FAQ Q: How much plastic is recycled? A: The recycling of plastics continued to grow in 1997. More than 1.3 billion pounds of post-consumer plastics packaging were recycled in the United States. - 649 million pounds of PET bottles were recycled in 1997-an increase of more than 18 million pounds compared to 1996!
- HDPE bottle recycling increased 7 percent in 1997 to 704 million pounds.2
- All plastic bottles were recycled at a rate of 24 percent in 1997.2
- 36 percent of plastic soft drink bottles were recycled in 1997.2
Q: How does plastic recycling work? A: Successful recovery of plastic -- like any material -- requires an infrastructure that can get plastics from the consumer and back into use as new products. The plastics recycling infrastructure has four parts: Collection-Rather than being thrown away, plastics (primarily PETand HDPE) are collected for recycling. Curbside collection with other materials and drop-off at recycling centers are common plastics collection methods. Handling-Plastics from collection programs are sorted to increase their value and compacted to reduce shipping costs. Reclamation-In conventional recycling, sorted plastics are chopped, washed and converted into flakes or pellets that are then processed into new products. Advanced recycling technologies (see "What are advanced recycling technologies ?") can take mixed plastics back to their original building blocks (monomers or petroleum feedstocks). These can then be recycled into a number of different products, including new plastics. End-use-Reclaimed plastic pellets or flakes-or petroleum feedstocks-are used to manufacture new products. Q: How many communities collect plastic for recycling? A: Following an extensive nationwide survey in 1997, the American Plastics Council (APC) estimated that roughly one-half of all U.S. communities -- nearly 19,400 -- are collecting plastics for recycling, primarily PET and HDPE. Roughly 7,400 communities collect plastics at the curb, and approximately 12,000 communities collect plastics through drop-off centers. In addition, thousands of grocery stores in the United States accept plastic bags for recycling into new trash can liners and other products. The chart below shows how new community collection programs have increased in past years.3,4 Q: Can some plastics from durable goods be recycled? A: Yes. A primary challenge is collecting post-consumer plastics from durable goods in quantities of sufficient quality that make recycycing cost-effective.
The Vehicle Recycling Partnership (VRP), a consortium formed by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, has opened a joint research center called the Vehicle Recycling Development Center (VRDC) to develop automotive recycling technology. The VRP has a collaborative agreement with APC to develop technology to recover and recycle plastics from scrapped vehicles' bumpers, instrument panels, seats and interior trim.
At wTe Corporation, a research and development facility in Dorchester, Mass., APC conducted research to improve recovery of plastics from durable products. The facility was designed to take plastic items with foreign material contamination, such as metals or fabric coverings, and generate a clean plastic stream. MBA Polymers, Richmond, CA, includes an "advanced plastics recycling line" that is developing and demonstrating new technologies for durables recycling. These include technology for plastics identification and sorting, and improving the quality and reducing the costs of recovering plastics from durable goods. Currently, APC and others are conducting research to evaluate recovery of telephones, automotive parts, computer housings, refrigerator doors and cabinet liners. Q: How many plastics recyclers are there? A: A 1998 study identified 1,792 businesses that handle and/or reclaim (sort, process and/or produce) post-consumer plastics. Information about these businesses has been compiled into a special handlers/ reclaimers database. Community recycling representatives can use the database to locate potential markets for their collected materials by calling APC's plastics information line at 1-800-2-HELP-90.5 Q: Why is sorting so important in plastic recycling? A: There are different types of plastics, just as there are different types of metal, paper and glass. Steel and aluminum have to be separated before recycling, different colors of glass must be sorted and white office paper must be separated from newspapers and paperboard boxes. Each of the six common packaging plastics has performance characteristics that make it best suited for specific applications (see "Why do we need different kinds of plastics?"). Purchasers of recycled resins want to be sure that these properties are retained, so handlers sort plastics by resin type to command the highest market value. Q: What can I recycle? A: Since all community-recycling programs are basically independent of one another , what you can recycle depends on where you live. To find out what plastics recycling opportunities are available in your area, check with your county or town department of public works, look under "Recycling" in the Yellow pages, or contact your local hauler. The most common plastic resins collected at curbside are PET and HDPE, often used in soft drink bottles and milk, juice and water containers respectively. Not all types of plastics are generally recycled, and recycling facilities may not be available in some areas. Q: What kinds of products are made with recycled plastics? A: The variety of products made with recycled plastics is growing. Here are just a few examples:
Recycled PET can be used in producing deli and bakery trays, carpets, clothing and textiles.
Recycled HDPE can become bottles for laundry produ cts, recycling bins, agricultural pipe, bags, motor oil bottles, decking and marine pilings. Recycled vinyl can become playground equipment, film and airbubble cushioning. Recycled LDPE can be used to manufacture bags, shrink film and compost bins. Recycled PP can be used in automobile parts, carpets, battery casings, textiles, industrial fibers and films used for packaging products such as candy. Recycled PS can be used in products including office accessories, video cassettes and cases.To help public and private sector buyers identify products made with recycled plastic, APC publishes "The Recycled Plastic Products Source Book" that lists more than 1,400 products.APC also publishes a consumer's guide to recycled products. "Shop Recycled!" lists more than 240 commonly used consumer items that are either made from or packaged with recycled plastics. Single copies of both guides can be obtained at no charge by calling APC's plastics information line at 1-800-2-HELP-90, or visit the Shop Recycled Mall at our website, www.plastics.org. 6 Q: Can plastic be recycled back into food contact applications? A: Today, some recycled plastics are used in food and beverage containers. Technical and economic barriers currently limit widespread use of recycled plastic packaging in direct contact with food. Q: What are advanced recycling technologies? A: The term advanced recycling describes a family of plastics recycling processes that yield a variety of versatile end products. Sometimes the term feedstock recycling or chemical recycling is used. These end products can be the building blocks from which plastics are made. By unlinking or unzipping plastics (polymers) to their original molecular components, recyclers can produce monomers or a petroleum product that can be made into monomers (the basic units from which plastics are made) or a number of other petroleum-based products. These developmental processes signal a significant technical breakthrough in plastics recycling technology because the products are identical to virgin feedstocks and monomers used to produce new plastics. Advanced recycling technologies are being researched to augment existing conventional mechanical systems as part of an integrated approach. They are designed to increase the volume of post-consumer plastics diverted from the waste stream and expand the variety of plastics that are recycled into new and useful products.7 Q: What resources are available to help increase sustainable recycling? A: Through organizations such as APC, the plastics industry is developing technologies to collect, sort and reclaim plastics more economically, broadening its focus to include durable products and commercial streams, researching new applications and end-markets for recycled plastics, and promoting existing markets through publications such as "The Recycled Plastic Products Source Book" and "Shop Recycled!" The American Plastics Council offers the following services and resources: Toll-Free Information Line -- Community officials and recyclers can get the technical information they need by calling 1-800-2-HELP-90. Information Specialists can access APC's databases listing more than 1,700 plastics handlers and reclaimers to match supply with demand for post-consumer plastics. Technical Research Programs -- The state of the art in plastics recycling is constantly evolving. APC works to hasten this evolution, pursuing a wide range of technical solutions that can add greater automation and operating efficiency to each step of the plastics recycling infrastructure, from collection to end-markets. The findings from these research programs have resulted in a series of technical manuals to help advance plastics recycling across the country.
How to Collect Plastics for Recycling -- A comprehensive technical manual to assist recycling professionals in improving the efficiency of existing collection efforts or designing programs from the outset. An accompanying video (23-minutes) shows detailed equipment configuration and collection strategies tested in APC's Model City demonstrations.
Sorting Plastic Bottles for Recycling -- A companion to "How to Collect Plastics for Recycling." This guide assists Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) operators in improving the efficiency of sorting and recovering plastic containers collected from the residential and commercial recyclables streams.
How Can You Get More of These Into This? -- A motivational tool kit designed to assist recyclers in the development and execution of a public service campaign; includes a how-to booklet, trade press advertisements, a series of broadcast-ready radio public service announcements and ready-to-print feature stories for newspapers. (produced jointly with the Association of Postconsumer Plastics Recyclers.) Stretch Wrap Recycling: A How-To Guide -- A guide that takes recyclers step-by-step through the process of design and implementation of a stretch wrap recovery program. Waste Reduction Strategies for Rural Communities -- A report that provides rural waste management officials with information on effcient waste management, jointly produced by APC and the Tennessee valley Authority (TVA). Educational Assistance --Extensive research has determined the best means of ensuring proper consumer participation in recycling programs and has resulted in two publications available free of charge from APC: 'Educating your community About Plastics Recycling: A Do-It-Yourself Kit" and "Perfecting the Plastics Drop-Off." We also have television public service announcements ready for use in your community to help boost public participation in plastics recycling.
General Mill Supply can answer these questions and many more! | 
