The Importance of Recycling Plastic

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(No Transcript)
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• Plastics have become an incredibly important part
  of our daily lives. The amount of plastics used
  in the US has increased nearly 20 times from what
  was used 50 years ago,1 and some post-consumer
  products can contain up to 20 different types of
  plastics alone.2 That means that there is a lot
  of plastic being produced every year, and most of
  it eventually goes into the trash.

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Unfortunately, much of the plastic that is thrown
away every year never makes it to the recycling.
In 2012, only 9 of total plastic waste generated
in the US was recycled. That means that of the 32
million tons of plastic that was thrown away that
year, less than 3 million tons was recycled. In
2012, nearly 30 million tons of plastic waste was
added to the nation's landfills.3    
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The amount of plastic going to waste each year
isn't just a tragedy from an environmental
perspective. Much of the plastic that ends up in
landfills every year could be repurposed and
reused, which means that plastic waste has
a negative economic impact as well. For example,
in 2009 the value of wasted plastic
was numbered at 485 million,
more than enough money for 1,000 US households to
live on the median income for almost a decade.4
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Fortunately, the numbers aren't all bad. While
only a small amount of total plastics are
recycled every year, that number is on an upward
trend from 7.1 in 20095 to 9 in 2012.6 On top
of that, many cities have introduced bans
on plastic grocery bags, or plan to
in the future. These initiatives alone aren't
enough, but they
are promising signs.    
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• US businesses can help tackle the problem of
  recycled plastic waste from two different fronts
• Sorting and recycling their plastics
• Buying products made from recovered plastics
•  Both of these methods of reducing waste require
  a concerted effort on the part of businesses, but
  they have become much easier in recent years as
  awareness of the dangers of un-recycled plastics
  has increased.

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One of the most common causes of plastics not
being properly recycled is plastic not being
separated from regular waste, or not being
properly sorted. The RIC identification code that
is printed on most plastic items (it's the number
inside the recycling logo) each represent a
different kind of plastic, and each one of those
kinds of plastics requires a different process to
be recycled.7  
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The reason that different plastics each require a
different process to be recycled is that the
different plastics all have slightly different
molecular structures. These differences in
chemical makeup give each classification of
plastic slightly different properties, which
affects what products they can be used in.
Sorting plastics when recycling them makes sure
that discarded plastic makes it to the right
place for recycling, saving the time, energy, and
resources that would otherwise have to be spent
separating them out.
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There are many items commonly used by US
businesses that can be made from repurposed
plastic. There are currently around 1,800
companies in the US that handle post-consumer
plastics,8 and much of that plastic is reused to
make items such as CD and DVD cases, office
accessories, windows, flooring, insulation, and
furniture. By purchasing these post-consumer
plastic products, US businesses can make a large
dent in the amount of unclaimed plastic filling
our landfills every year.  
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Polychem USA has been a market leader in plastic
waste recycling since 1946. During that time, the
company has grown with the developments in the
industry and the world, always striving to stay
at the forefront of the recycled plastic
industry. Learn more at http//www.polychem-usa.co
m/.
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Sources

1. http//www.bir.org/industry/plastics/
2. http//www.bir.org/industry/plastics/
3. http//www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/plastics
   .htm
4. http//www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagenamerecycl
   ing_facts_and_stats
5. http//www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagenamerecycl
   ing_facts_and_stats
6. http//www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/plastics
   .htm
7. http//www.bir.org/industry/plastics/
8. http//environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/benefi
   ts-of-plastics-recycling.htm