Plastic Recycling is Vital to Reducing Our Need for Fossil Fuels
Plastic Recycling is Vital to Reducing Our Need for Fossil Fuels...
As you
move through your day today, take the time to notice how many items you use
which are made from plastic. Taking your morning shower you will first notice
that your shampoo and conditioner come in plastic bottles. You brush your teeth
with a plastic toothbrush each morning. At breakfast you have some toast and
yogurt. Notice that the margarine and yogurt both come in plastic containers.
You get into your car to commute to work and can see much of the inside of your
vehicle is made from plastic materials. At work nearly everything you touch is
plastic from the switch plate on the wall to the printer you use on your desk.
At lunch you buy a take-out salad which comes in a plastic clamshell container
with plastic silverware. As you can easily see, plastic is everywhere in our
lives these days!
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Plastic recycling has been available in most
areas of the U.S. since the early 1990s. Because of the
sheer high volume of plastics used today, it is vital that
we all learn to participate in our local plastic recycling
programs. Plastic products are generally made from
nonrenewable resources such as the fossil fuels oil and
natural gas. This makes plastic recycling vitally
important.
While plastic production is up significantly in the U.S.
today, you might be surprised to learn that plastic recycling
is actually down from a decade ago. Why is this? Generally
the reasons are attributed to consumer confusion over the
various types of plastic and how they are handled in local
plastic recycling programs. We can significantly reduce plastic and paper bag waste from our landfills by using reusable tote bags.
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As a country we have the ability to increase our plastic recycling
programs and better utilize our natural resources. The U.S. has
the capacity to recycle more plastic than people take to their
local recycling center or put out for their curbside recycling
programs. There is also a large market for recycled plastic
products which is often forced to use virgin materials because
recycled are not available.
What can you do to implement
plastic recycling in your life? By simply making sure that any
plastic product you are finshed using makes it into a recycling
container, you are doing your part to help in plastic recycling.
One of
the biggest confusions to consumers in plastic recycling is which items are able
to be recycled and which are not. Starting in the 1990s plastic started to be
numbered on the bottom to aid consumers in understanding which plastic products
contain which type of Automobiles also contain other toxic substances such as asbestos,
lead and mercury. Proper handling of these substances is one key
to keeping them out of the landfill and out of the environment.
The most common plastic products which can easily be recycled
are:
#1 - PETE usually used in beverage and food bottles and containers.
#2 – HDPE usually used in soap containers
of all types.
#6 – PS usually used in plastic cups,
plates, cutlery, CD jackets and egg cartons.
To help
do your part in plastic recycling the best thing you can do is reduce the amount
of plastic in your environment as much as possible. Once plastic products are
in your home environment use them and reuse them when at all possible. Once the
plastic can no longer be used find a plastic recycling program and recycle your
plastic items.
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