Plastic Innovations: Recycle

What Does That Chasing Arrow Symbol on Plastics Mean?

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<br /></div>You know that little triangular symbol on the bottom of your plastic milk jug or detergent container or soft drink bottle? Looks sort of like chasing arrows with a number in the middle?

Any idea what that means?

As Professor Plastic, I’m glad I asked.

That little symbol was created in 1988 to identify the type of plastic (we call them resins) used to make the bottle, container, and packaging. It’s called a Resin Identification Code (RIC). Very official sounding, no?

Recyclers sometimes use this information to help them sort plastics for recycling, so people often think of the chasing arrows as a recycling symbol, but that’s not technically accurate.

While the RIC helped plastics recycling grow dramatically since the 1988, it often causes confusion among many people standing in front of their recycling bin wondering: can I recycle this?

Today, new and better ways to identify what packaging and products are recyclable have begun to shift focus away from the little symbol. For example, in the U.S. the Sustainable Packaging Coalition has created a “How2Recycle” label that explains more clearly what and how to recycle. Thankfully, the How2Recycle label is quickly catching on.

First—What Can Be Recycled?
When it comes to recycling plastics, where you live makes a big difference. The types of plastic items collected vary from place to place. So first always find out what plastics are accepted in your community… it’s as simple as searching online for “plastics recycling” and the name of your community. Or check out IWantToBeRecycled.org and type in your zip code. For some quick plastics recycling know-how, check out our list of The Ultimate 9 Quick Tips to Recycle More Plastics.

And remember: although flexible wraps and bags typically aren’t collected in curbside programs (please keep them out of your curbside bin!), more than 18,000 grocery and retail stores across the country do collect these plastics for recycling.

What Are Those Numbers in the Triangle All About?
So… what exactly do those numbers 1 through 7 stand for? Below is a list of the types of plastics (remember: resins), common packaging products made from them, and some products that may be made with that recycled plastic resin.

NOTE: These lists are not exhaustive. But I do get exhausted writing about how many things these days are made with recycled plastics…

1. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE) or (PET)

Uses of PET include: bottles for soft drinks, water, sports drinks, beer, mouthwash, and salad dressing; food jars for peanut butter, jelly, and pickles; produce containers.

Products made with recycled PET include: fibers for carpet, fleece jackets, and comforter fill; containers for food, beverages, and non-food items; microwavable food trays and tote bags.

2. High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)

Uses of HDPE include: bottles/jugs for milk, water, juice, cosmetics, shampoo, dish/laundry detergents, and household cleaners; containers for margarine, cottage cheese, and other foods; cereal box liners; trash and retail bags.

Products made with recycled HDPE include: bottles for items such as shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, household cleaners, motor oil, and antifreeze; plastic lumber for outdoor decking, fencing, and picnic tables; pipe, floor tiles, buckets, crates, flower pots, garden edging, and recycling bins.

3. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC, Vinyl)

Uses of PVC include: deli and meat wrap, shrink wrap, retail product packaging (blister packs).

Products made with recycled PVC include: pipe, decking, fencing, paneling, gutters, carpet backing, floor tiles and mats, resilient flooring, mud flaps, cassette trays, electrical boxes, cables, traffic cones, garden hoses, mobile home skirting, packaging, and loose-leaf binders.

4. Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)

Uses of LDPE include: bags for dry cleaning, newspapers, bread, frozen foods, fresh produce, and household garbage; shrink wrap and stretch film, coatings for paper milk cartons and hot and cold beverage cups, container lids, and squeezable bottles (e.g. honey, mustard).

Products made with recycled LDPE include: shipping envelopes, garbage can liners, floor tile, paneling, furniture, compost bins, trash cans, landscape timber, and outdoor lumber.

5. Polypropylene (PP)

Uses of PP include: Containers for yogurt, margarine, take out meals, and deli foods; bottle caps and closures; bottles for medicine, syrup, and ketchup.

Products made with recycled PP include: automobile applications such as battery cases, signal lights, battery cables; brooms and brushes, ice scrapers, oil funnels, bicycle racks, garden rakes, storage bins, shipping pallets, and trays.

6. Polystyrene (PS)

Uses of PS include: foodservice items such as cups, plates, bowls, cutlery, and hinged take-out containers; meat and poultry trays, egg cartons, and food containers; protective packaging for electronics, furniture and other delicate items; packing peanuts, compact disc cases, and aspirin bottles.

Products made with recycled PS include: thermal insulation, picture frames, thermometers, light switch plates, vents, desk trays, license plate frames, cameras or video cassette casings, egg cartons, plastic moldings (i.e., wood replacement products), and expandable polystyrene (EPS) foam protective packaging.

7. Other

“Other”indicates that a package is made with a resin other than the six listed above or is made with more than one resin.

Uses of “other” plastic include: three- and five-gallon reusable water bottles and some citrus juice and ketchup bottles.

Products made with recycled “other” resin include: bottles and plastic lumber applications.

Now that you know what that little symbol means, help keep the momentum in plastics recycling going! Check out these plastics recycling tips to learn how to recycle everything you can.

What Does That Chasing Arrow Symbol on Plastics Mean?

You know that little triangular symbol on the bottom of your plastic milk jug or detergent container or soft drink bottle? Looks sort of li...

The Word on Plastics Recycling: Momentum

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Previously published in Plastics Engineering and posted with permission from the Society of Plastics Engineers.

NOTE: figures in this article on rigid plastics and plastic film recycling have been updated since publication in Plastics Engineering magazine.

Plastics recycling is growing. Steadily, broadly, expansively.

It’s useful every once in a while to remind ourselves why we recycle anything at all. Imagine for a moment the long and winding path of something as commonplace as a plastic milk jug: from natural resources to petro/chemical facilities to plastics production to blow molding to filling, shipping, merchandizing, purchasing, and (finally) enjoying. Does it make sense to simply discard all that? Materials often have value even after we use them, so burying them in a landfill is an egregious waste of resources.

Furthermore, recycling can reduce energy use and cut greenhouse gas emissions. According to EPA, recycling combined with composting (EPA often lumps these together) saved “the same amount of energy consumed by almost 10 million U.S. households in a year” and reduced greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent of removing more than 33 million passenger vehicles from the road in a year. Plus recycling industries can create significantly more jobs than simply hauling and burying garbage, says EPA.

Looking specifically at plastics, a 2010 study found that recycling HDPE and PET plastics can save enough energy each year to power 750,000 homes. And recycling HDPE can reduce greenhouse gas emissions 66 percent compared to using virgin HDPE.

So … combine energy savings, reduced waste and greenhouse gases, and more jobs, and recycling sounds pretty smart. Thankfully, recycling in the U.S. continues to grow—according to the EPA, the U.S. recycling rate has more than doubled since 1990.

The rate for plastics recycling has grown even more than that, in part because recycling these newer materials began in earnest only in the 1990s. Companies that make plastics invested billions of dollars over the past few decades to help set up the recycling infrastructure (the topic of a future Plastics Make it Possible® article). So today the plastic bottle recycling rate is approaching the rate for glass.

While there still is a long way to go catch aluminum and steel recycling rates, here’s a quick look at the success of recycling for some common plastics based on the latest tracking data … and advances that may well increase the momentum.

Bottles
The U.S. recycling rate for plastic bottles reached nearly 32 percent in 2014. Plastic bottle recycling grew by 97 million pounds to top 3 billion pounds for the year. That marks the 25th consecutive year that Americans have increased the pounds of plastic bottles collected for recycling (surveying began in 1990).

The collection of polypropylene bottles, specifically, jumped more than 28 percent to reach a recycling rate of nearly 45 percent, higher than the collective recycling rate for glass beer and soft drink bottles.

The recycled resins made from plastic bottles are used widely in plastic products and parts, from clothing fabrics to auto components to new bottles.

Non-bottles or “rigids”
Rigid plastics represent a category of non-bottle plastic containers along with caps and lids. Nearly 1.3 billion pounds of rigids were collected for recycling in the U.S. in 2014. That’s quadruple the amount collected in just 2007 (when measuring began).

In the U.S., these plastics are recycled primarily into automotive parts, crates, buckets, pipe, and lawn and garden products.

“Film”
Instead of being collected at curbside like bottles and rigids, plastic bags (e.g., for groceries, food/produce, newspaper delivery, dry cleaning), and plastic overwraps for products (e.g., beverage cases, diapers, napkins) are collected for recycling at more than 18,000 grocery and retail stores across the U.S.

Even though this at-store collection program is relatively new, recycling of this postconsumer plastic “film” packaging reached nearly 1.2 billion pounds in 2014. Plastic film recycling has increased 79 percent since 2005 (when measuring began) and has reached a rate of 17 percent.

Recycled plastic film is used to make a range of products, including durable composite lumber for outdoor decks and fencing, home building products, lawn and garden products, crates, pipe, and film for new plastic packaging.

Foam polystyrene
Access to curbside and drop-off recycling programs for foam polystyrene packaging is growing across the U.S. The EPS Industry Alliance reported an all-time high recycling rate of 34 percent for foam polystyrene protective packaging for 2103.

To help increase recycling, a new interactive website allows Americans and Canadians to search for local foam packaging recycling programs. PSFoamRecycling.org differentiates between programs that accept protective foam packaging (typically used for transporting electronics and other high-end products), programs that collect foam food packaging (such as coffee cups, clamshell containers, egg cartons, and meat trays), and programs that collect both types of packaging. The site also notes whether the foam packaging is collected at curbside or drop-off programs and identifies foam packaging “mail back” programs for areas where local recycling does not exist.

Recycled polystyrene is used to make numerous products, from picture frames to crown molding to egg cartons.

New Recycling Fund and Plastics Recycling Facility
To help increase the momentum of recycling, 10 of the largest consumer products companies (e.g., P&G, Walmart, Coca-Cola) have created the $100 million Closed Loop Fund. The Fund provides zero and low interest loans to cities and companies that want to build new recycling facilities and projects for plastics and other materials. By 2025, the fund aims to eliminate more than 50 million tons of greenhouse gas, divert more than 20 million tons of waste from landfills, and create more than 20,000 jobs.

Its first project opened in late 2015, a high-tech recycling facility in Baltimore that is able to sort 54,000 tons of plastics for recycling each year, including some that today are not recycled often. One of the largest facilities of its kind, The QRS Plastics Recovery Facility is expected to collect plastics within a 500-mile radius across the East Coast and process approximately 4,500 tons of materials each month, more than double what is currently possible in the U.S., according to its backers.

The facility uses technologies that can make it more economical to sell these plastics in the market, which could considerably increase the amount of plastics recycled. Advanced, high-tech optical sorters “read” different types of plastics and then send puffs of air to blow specific items into the correct stream. These streams of plastics that have been separated according to type can be much more valuable than streams of mixed plastics. The facility also plans to process the plastics back into the raw material (plastic pellets) for sale.

The combination of funding source, advanced technologies, and pellet processing are designed to make broader plastics recycling more cost-effective. According to the Closed Loop Fund, facilities like this could be replicated across the nation—and beyond.

The momentum in plastics recycling is encouraging and helping all of us reduce our environmental footprint. Let’s keep it up.

The Word on Plastics Recycling: Momentum

Previously published in Plastics Engineering and posted with permission from the Society of Plastics Engineers. NOTE: figures in this art...

A How-To-Guide To Recycling Plastics

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A How-To-Guide To Recycling Plastics</h1>
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To make it easier for consumers to recycle more, Plastics Make it Possible® offers the following tips for reusing and reusing everyday plastics. These simple steps can help you keep your commitment to protecting the environment every day.</div>
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1. Find out which plastics are accepted for recycling in your area and where they can be taken. Though recycling varies throughout the country, most community programs collect plastic bottles, and many grocery and retail chains offer bins for recycling used plastic bags.</div>
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Bottles: Today, more than 80 percent of U.S. households have access to a recycling program, and the vast majority of them collect plastic bottles. For recycling purposes, a bottle is any container with a neck or an opening that’s smaller than its base. Include the following wherever plastic bottles are recycled:</div>
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• Milk jugs</div>
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• Beverage bottles (e.g., water, soft drinks, juice and beer)</div>
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• Bottles from shampoo, toiletries, laundry detergent and other household cleaners</div>
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• Salad dressing, cooking oil and condiment bottles</div>
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• Food jars, such as peanut butter and mayonnaise</div>
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Bags: Many grocery and retail stores now offer plastic bag drop-off programs that allow consumers to return their used bags and product wraps to be recycled at collection areas located at the front entrance or near the store checkout. All clean bags labeled #2 (HDPE) or #4 (LLDPE) are recyclable, including:</div>
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• Grocery bags</div>
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• Retail bags (remove hard plastic or string handles)</div>
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• Plastic newspaper bags</div>
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• Dry cleaning bags (remove paper and hangers)</div>
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• Bread bags (with crumbs shaken out)</div>
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• You can also include plastic wraps from products such as paper towels, bathroom paper, napkins and diapers wherever plastic bags are collected for recycling.</div>
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2. Clean and empty. Bags should be clean and empty. Do not include plastic food wrap, bags that have food residue, or material that has been painted or glued (other than the inks on the bag).</div>
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3. Bring them back to the bin. Many bottles and bags are used away from home so it’s important to bring them back to the recycle bin. Here’s how: when you’re out and about, store them in a backpack or briefcase, or simply leave them in the car until they arrive home or at the grocery store. And don’t forget to put the cap back on the bottles to prevent any residue from leaking out until you can properly recycle the bottle.</div>
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4. Store bags in a bag. Storing plastic bags and product wraps in a plastic bag offers neat, convenient storage. Simply knot the handles when you’re ready to drop them off at your local grocer or retailer.</div>
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5. Pitch in beyond the kitchen. While many recyclable bottles come from the kitchen, don’t forget to check the bathrooms and laundry room for shampoo and detergent bottles.</div>
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6. Reuse those bags! There are many helpful ways to reuse plastic bags, such as:</div>
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• Wet umbrella cover – keep other items in your bag dry when your umbrella is wet</div>
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• Suitcase savers – wrap shoes before packing them with clean clothes</div>
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• Hand protectors – place them over your hands to handle messes indoors and out</div>
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• Kitchen clean-up – place them under the cutting board for quick scrap removal</div>
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• Trash can liners – use them in bathrooms and other household waste baskets</div>
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• Doggie duty – bring them on dog walks to collect and dispose of pet waste</div>
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7. When in doubt, leave it out. In addition to bottles, a growing number of communities are collecting and recycling plastic containers, such as yogurt cups, tubs, trays and lids. But keep in mind that mixing the wrong types of materials (even other plastics) can lower the quality of the recycled material. A growing number of plastics recycling programs also accept rigid containers that don’t fit the “bottle “ description — make sure to find out what type of containers are acceptable. And remember – put plastic caps back on bottles and containers since now recyclers want those, too. Keep these items out of the recycle bin unless your community specifically accepts them:</div>
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• No plastic bags or wraps (take them to your grocery store, if accepted)</div>
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• No automotive, pesticide or solvent bottles</div>
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• No toys</div>
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• No trays, tubs or containers (unless your community asks for them; more and more communities are recycling these types of containers in addition to bottles, so it’s worth checking.)</div>
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8. Bridge the second generation gap. It’s important to remember that recycled plastics go on to become second generation products. Bottles are used to make hundreds of everyday items, ranging from fleece jackets and carpeting to detergent bottles and lumber for outdoor decking. Plastic bags can also be made into many products, including new bags, durable backyard decks, fencing, railing, park benches, picnic tables, and shopping carts.</div>
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A How-To-Guide To Recycling Plastics

A How-To-Guide To Recycling Plastics To make it easier for consumers to recycle more, Plastics Make it Possible® offers the following...

Plastic Innovations

What Does That Chasing Arrow Symbol on Plastics Mean?

The Word on Plastics Recycling: Momentum

A How-To-Guide To Recycling Plastics

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