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Recycling plastic, glass, and paper
Perhaps you already understand the importance of recycling – reducing landfill waste, reducing litter, reducing the use of both renewable and non-renewable resources, etc. – but what else do you know about recycling? Do you understand which products can be recycled and why?
Here are some facts about recycling plastic, glass, and paper:
Plastic
• Numbers – just because your yogurt container or take-out container has a number and chasing arrow symbol on the bottom of it does not mean that it can be recycled. The number identifies the type of plastic the container is made out of, and the arrows surrounding it are merely for highlighting that number.
• Type of plastic – the numbers on plastic containers indicate what kind of plastic it is made from. It is important to identify the type of plastic because different plastics melt at different temperatures, not all plastics are easily recyclable, and they have other different properties, as well. Different plastics are used for different purposes.
• #1 and #2 – some recycling centers only accept #1 and #2 plastics while others collect numbers 1-7. Why? Numbers 1 and 2 (PETE and HDPE plastics) are the easiest to recycle. In truth, there are far fewer facilities that recycle numbers 3-7 (in general, the higher the number, the harder it is to recycle). Some recycling programs merely ask for numbers 1-7 in hopes that they will thereby get even more #1 and #2 plastics. Of course, the process of recycling is improving. It is a good idea to find out what kind of plastics can be recycled by your collector – they may very well have a recycling facility that can recycle multiple types of plastics, not just ones and twos.
• Uses of recycled plastic – a lot of plastic is recycled not into new bottles and other recyclable materials, but into non-recyclable materials like textiles or plastic lumber.
• Incineration – sometimes it is more cost-effective to incarnate plastic, using it for energy, than to recycle it. Plastic is made from petroleum, and it as good for an energy resource as petroleum is.
• Do not recycle the lids – in general, a recycling facility does not want the lids of your plastic materials. These lids are often made from a different type of plastic than the container. Also, sometimes small items like bottle lids can jam machinery at a recycling plant.Glass
• Infinitely recyclable – glass can be recycled over and over without losing any of its quality or purity. Plastic, on the other hand, can be recycled many times, but then becomes brittle.
• Glass not gas – whereas plastic is made from non-renewable fossil fuels, glass is made from sand, soda ash, limestone. Cullet is also used to make glass. It takes much less energy to make glass from cullet than from the raw materials – recycling glass is more energy efficient than making it from raw materials.
• Substitution – recycled glass can easily be substituted for raw materials in the manufacturing process.
• Glass for recycling – window panes, light bulbs, ovenware, and other types of glass can not be easily recycled. They are manufactured through a different process than glass containers used for food and beverages. Look for a “G” logo on the glass product to see that it is both made from recycled glass and can be recycled again.
• Color – once color has been added to glass, that color cannot be removed. glass is separated by color before it is recycled, thereby ensuring that the glass meets color standards that glass container customers need.Paper
• Trash – paper makes up a large percent of landfill space. And while paper does breakdown much faster than other materials like plastics, today’s landfills are made so that items do not decompose readily – they are made so that toxins cannot be released into the air or ground.
• Which paper can be recycled? – almost all paper can be recycled, but not all can recycled as easily as others. Also, different types of paper are recycled into different things. Newspaper, for instance, is used to make egg cartons or new newsprint while office paper can be made into a variety of paper products like stationary, magazines, etc.
• Lifespan – paper cannot continually be recycled. Some statistics show that it can be recycled around 8 times, though. Often, recycled paper is mixed with raw fibers to create new paper products.
• Trees – just think of how many trees could be saved if more recycled paper was used! Think of how many could be saved if you reduced your use of paper.
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