Recycling Supply Reviews

Plastics are used to manufacture an incredible number of products we use every day, such as beverage and food containers, trash bags and grocery bags, plastic cups and utensils, children’s toys and diapers, and bottles for everything from mouthwash and shampoo to glass cleaner and dish washing liquid. And that’s not even counting all the plastic that goes into furniture, appliances, computers and automobiles.

As the use of plastics has increased over the years, they have become a larger part of the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream—growing from less than 1 percent in 1960 to approximately 12 percent in 2011.

Recycling plastics reduces the amount of energy and natural resources (such as water, petroleum and natural) needed to create virgin plastic. According to the American Plastics Council, the production of plastics accounts for 4 percent of U.S. energy consumption, and 70 percent of plastics in the United States are made from domestic natural gas.

Recycling plastic products also keeps them out of landfills and allows the plastics to be reused in manufacturing new products. Recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space.

Recycling plastics has never been easier. Today, 80 percent of Americans have easy access to a plastics recycling program, whether they participate in a municipal curbside program or live near a drop-off site. You can purchase inexpensive recycling bins just for your plastic.

Overall, however, plastics recycling is still relatively low. In 20011, only about 6.8 percent of plastics in the municipal solid waste stream were recycled—about 2.1 million tons of the 30 tons of plastic waste generated that year. Do your part to turn this around.