PET / PETE – Polyethylene Terephthalate

Common uses: disposable water, juice, soda pop and other clear-colored drink bottles, cough syrup containers, and plastic food jars. 

Concerns: PET is understood to be one of the least toxic forms of plastic, [despite an urban legend (verified false by Snopes.com) that circulated via email warning people of cancer-causing chemicals leaching from water bottles left in hot cars]. PET received some bad press for containing DEHA which the EPA now no longer lists as a carcinogen. PET plastics do not contain the phthalate softeners, found in vinyl, which studies increasingly link to cancer and infertility.

Studies do show that PET bottles can leach toxic antimony, although at levels deemed safe (PDF) by the World Health Organization. And doctors advise against reusing disposable plastic water bottles because they are hard to clean and can trap bacteria.

Recycling: PET can be down-cycled where facilities exist. Most municipal recycling programs accept PETE #1 plastics.

HDPE – High Density Polyethylene

Common uses: shampoo and detergent bottles, milk jugs, cosmetics, motor oil, toys, and sturdy shopping bags

Concerns: HDPE is often opaque or cloudy.

Recycling: HDPE can be down-cycled where facilities exist. Many municipal recycling programs accept HDPE #2 plastics. Some recycling centers can only handle clear #2 plastics, such as milk jugs, but not colored bottles. Tubs, lids, spray pumps, buckets, films, bags, and items containing toxic chemicals such as drain cleaner, are less likely to be accepted by recyclers.

PVC / V – Polyvinyl Chloride

 Common uses: cooking oil bottles, plumbing pipes

LDPE – Low Density Polyethylene

 Common uses: cling wrap, grocery bags, sandwich bags

PP – Polypropylene

 Common uses: yogurt and other dairy cups/tubs, disposable plastic water bottles (cloudy)

PS – Polystyrene

 Common uses: disposable coffee cups, clam-shell take-out containers

 OTHER PLASTICS

 Generally plastics invented after 1987. There are several “okay” plastics in this category, including PLA (polylactide), plastics made  from renewable resources, and “BPA-Free” labeled plastics. Category also includes PC (polycarbonate).
 Common uses: baby bottles, some reusable water bottles, stain-resistant food-storage containers

Sources:
news.cnet.com

Earth911.com to the rescue! I sheepishly specified glass and then entered my zip code while thinking ‘they probably don’t have any listings in my area’, and then boom! I was happily shocked to receive a detailed list of dropoff locations and recycling facilities for glass! How easy was that?!

Simplify and streamline your recycling efforts by using the search widget below to determine what and where you can recycle in your neighborhood.



1. All but a small handful of plastics are made from non-renewable petroleum and natural gas, so the manufacture and use of the majority of types of plastic contribute to world resource depletion.
2. Plastic manufacturing is a major source of industrial pollution. You might be surprised to learn that the production of a single 16-oz. PETE bottle generates more than 100 times the toxic emissions to air and water than making the same size bottle out of glass. Major emissions from plastic production processes include sulfur oxides and nitrous oxides (both of which contribute to global warming) and the chemicals styrene, benzene and trichloroethane which are known toxins.
3. Discarded and recycled plastic lingers on our planet indefinitely because literally nothing in nature can break apart the molecular bonds that are created when plastic is formed from a petroleum base.  ’Good’ Plastic can only be repurposed and recycled so many times before it eventually ends up in a landfill or as ‘litter’ in the environment. Even photodegradable plastic, which disintegrates to a plastic dust when exposed to sunlight, still retains remains a chemical polymer just ends up in mixed in our soil, as particulate air pollution and dissolved in the water supply. Throughout the earth’s water system, those plastic dust particles attract and absorb other harmful chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and the pesticide DDT. The contaminated plastic dust is inevitably ingested by fish, and then by us, when those fish wind up on our dinner plates!

In light of these factual  truths about plastic, I have opted not to include a value assessment in my “Types of Plastics” articles indicating whether each is currently considered to be a good vs. bad plastic. The term good plastic is only ‘good’ relative to other plastics, and not relative to it’s overall environmental impact or product alternatives. Some plastics are better than others, but until green technology produces a fully biodegradable, non-leaching plastic out of renewable raw resources, the choice between one plastic or another is to select the “lessor of two evils”, and no plastic can in good conscience be called “good plastic”.

It is important to note that just because the code is surrounded by a recycling symbol does NOT mean that the indicated type of plastic can be recycled in your area, or at all, for that matter. Only a small portion of plastics can actually be recycled to begin with (urban areas usually have facilities for PETE and HDPE). My research on plastics revealed that the recycle triangle is used to draw attention to the code, and its presence is NOT an indication of the recycleability of the type of plastic. Though I felt a little stupid when I learned that, I doubt that I’m the only person who assumed that the presence of a recycling symbol meant it could be recycled!

What follows next in this informational series on Plastic, the Environment, and You, is a summary of each type of plastic and what is known about its manufacture, use, and disposal.

If the news about not all plastics being recyclable isn’t bad enough, add to it the fact that only about 23% of plastics that CAN be recycled ever make it to a recycling facility. So, on top of the facing the challenge of creating a truly low or no impact plastic, we also have to adddress and improve the dreadfully low participation rate and inefficiency of our current collection system. 

Despite most urban centers having the facilities to process the two most common types of plastic (PETE and HDPE), only 23% of plastic with recycle potential actually ever reaches a recycling facility. On top of that, there are no hard and fast plastics recycling rules, so procedures vary by region. The majority of plastic containers and items end up in landfills where even compostable type plastics  don’t have the right conditions to biodegrade. It is estimated that more than 100 billion plastic bottles are added to landfills each year. And last, but not least, a significant number of plastic containers end up as litter, that eventually finds its way via waterways to our earth’s oceans, which is how the growing island of plastic debris in the North Pacific Gyre came to be. 

Making plastics is the fifth largest U.S. manufacturing industry in 2005, according to the American Chemistry Council. The sector employs more than 1.1 million people, according to the Society of the Plastics Industry. The process of manufacturing plastics often involves the emission of toxic substances into the atmosphere. And even more toxins (like lead and chlorine) are released when plastics are burned for disposal. But incineration is not the most common method of disposal.

Plastics currently make up almost 12 percent of U.S. waste. Technically, plastics cannot be recycled indefinitely, only down-cycled,which means that eventually the product cannot be repurposed anymore and will end up in a landfill or be otherwise disposed of. So every plastic product that is manufactured eventually WILL take up space somewhere on our earth, and/or release its toxic byproducts into our air, water or soil.

Especially in the current economy, efforts to reduce plastic production will be met with resistance for economic reasons. The answer is to focus on the development of increasingly eco-friendly plastics or alternatives. 

Some eco-conscious companies are turning to plastics made of plants rather than petroleum. And there are forward thinking manufacturers looking for win-win solutions. But new technologies almost always cost more and so adoption of less toxic plastics is slow. Ane we are in a race against time. Every day that petroleum-based, non biodegradable plastics are produced, we lose ground. No one exactly knows at what point we will be past the point of recovery, and there are choices individuals (that’s you!) can make now to effect change. Small personal adjustments toward green living in your home and workplace will add up for the good of our earth.

I started evading plastic grocery bags by accident back when I was in college. Since I didn’t have a car, I was either on my bike or on foot when I shopped, so it just made sense to carry my purchases in a backpack. At the grocery store I loaded up my pack at the checkstand without the need for plastic or paper grocery bags.

I eventually got a car, and no longer had to carry my groceries on my back, and for a short while relied by default on the convenience of store supplied “paper or plastic” sacks. But  grocery bags seem to multiply in a small kitchen, and despite being diligent about reusing them, there were always more coming in than I could find ways to repurpose. And so, with the help of my sewing sister, I made some sturdy cloth sacs with handles and started carrying them in my car to have on hand whenever I happened to stop in for groceries or other shopping errands. Most of the original batch of bags I made are still doing their duty almost 12 years later!

Switching to reusable shopping bags is an easy and inexpensive step you can take in your quest to live a greener lifestyle. Functionally, cloth reusable bags do the same job as the disposal types, so it really boils down to a minor matter of convenience. After you unload your groceries, you have to remember to put the bags back in your car so you’ll have them the next time you stop at the store. And when you get to the store, don’t forget to take them in with you! If you reach the front of the checkout line, realize you forgot your bags, and try to dash out to your car to get them, you risk lots of annoyed people and dirty looks! But other than that, it’s an easy green lifestyle change to make.

Switching to reusable shopping bags can be either low cost (watch for sales and you can get store bought reusable shopping bags for 50 to 99 cents) or no cost (sew your own from old blankets, clothing or other recycled fabric). Or for the fashion conscious, you can buy designer reusable shopping bags in hip colors and with trendy designs, slogans or labels. If you regularly shop at more than one store, and feel weird about taking a shopping bag with one store’s logo into a competing store, you can buy ‘generic’ bags too.

Benefits of reusable shopping bags include:

They are usually bigger and stronger, so they hold more = fewer trips from the car to the house when unloading!

If you used to choose paper, now you are saving trees. Although paper is biodegradable, the manufacturing eco-cost is high because pulp and paper mills are among the worst polluters of air and water. 

If you used to choose plastic, now you are saving landfill space and preventing ugly plastic litter that never biodegrades. The manufacturing eco-cost of plastic bags is lower than paper (they require less energy to produce and create fewer atmospheric emissions and waterborne wastes). But plastic is made from crude oil, a dwindling nonrenewable resource, and petroleum bags are non-biodegradable.

You don’t have to deal with storing or figuring out how to reuse all the plastic sacs that result from each shopping trip.

Cloth bags are washable (in the case of spills or leakage)

Some stores are starting to charge now for the paper and/or plastic sacs they provide. Other stores (IKEA is an example) have stopped supplying one time use bags altogether. So whether you switch to reusable shopping bags for economic reasons or earth friendly reasons, the motivation is there.