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About Plastic Recycling
Plastic recycling is the process of recovering scrap or waste plastics and reprocessing the material into useful products, sometimes completely different from their original state. For instance, this could mean melting down soft drink bottles to make plastic toys and waste cans.
Plastic recycling rates lag far behind those of other items, such as newspaper and cardboard. One reason is that consumers often don’t understand the types of plastics that can be recycled in their area.
Types of plastics are assigned a number, called a resin identification code, which is usually stamped on the bottom of container. Before recycling, plastics must be sorted according to their resin identification code.
The identification codes are as follows:
| Plastic Identification Code |
Type of Plastic Polymer |
Common Packaging Applications |
 |
Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET, PETE) |
Soft drink, water and salad dressing bottles; peanut butter and jam jars |
 |
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) |
Milk, juice and water bottles; yogurt and margarine tubs; trash and retail bags. |
 |
Polyvinyl Chloride (V) |
Juice bottles; cling films; PVC piping |
 |
Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) |
Frozen food bags; squeezable bottles, e.g. honey, mustard; cling films; flexible container lids. |
 |
Polypropylene
(PP) |
Reusable microwaveable ware; kitchenware; yogurt containers; margarine tubs; microwaveable disposable take-away containers; disposable cups and plates. |
 |
Polystyrene
(PS) |
Egg cartons; packing peanuts; "Styrofoam"; disposable cups, plates, trays and cutlery; disposable take-away containers; yogurt and margarine containers |
 |
Other |
Beverage bottles; baby milk bottles. |
The most-often recycled plastic, HDPE or number 2, is downcycled into plastic lumber, tables, roadside curbs, benches, truck cargo liners, trash receptacles, rulers and other durable plastic products and is usually in demand.
Source: http://www.wikipedia.org |
