Plastic Recycling - Interesting and Suprsing Facts

Plastics are valuable materials

Plastics are currently the dominant material used in an expanding range for producing consumer products due to plastics' versatility, ease of manufacture and relatively low production costs.

The rate of plastic use in developed countries has steadily increased since its invention in the early 20th century. Within Western Europe plastic usage is growing at around 4% per annum which means that in 20 years Europe is going to double its plastic manufacturing and usage.

The success of plastic in and of itself would not be alarming. What raises concerns is the fact that some plastics can take up to 500 years to fully decompose. The vast majority of plastic shopping bags are only used once in most cases, for less than an hour and take up to 100 years to decompose. The good news is that plastic does not have to finish its lifecycle in the oceans and in the landfills because it can be efficiently recycled.

Photo 1: Plastic is a valuable material even after you finish using it. Give it a second chance by recycling 

Recycling plastic has many benefits 

Plastics like plastic bottles, plastic lids and plastic bags at the end of their relatively short usage lifecycle are typically considered trash but that is a mistake. Plastics are valuable materials that can be turned into clothing, rugs, garden furniture. Recycling the plastic we use can benefit the environment in general and the local community in specific.

• Recycling plastic reduces our impact on the environment because recycling means that we keep kilograms of material our of trash, in other words less amount of waste is sent to the landfills
• Conserves natural resources for future generations because it reduces the need to collect new raw materials for production and manufacturing
• Saves energy because less energy is required to recycle plastic than to make it from raw materials
• Recycling is a growing industry and more and more jobs are created

What can recycled plastic bottles be turned into ? 

 Recycled PET can be turned into new soda bottles, containers for drinks and containers for some household cleaning products. it can become clothing or fiberfill for clothing and it can be turned into upholstery and carpets. 

Recycled HDPE can be turned into patio and garden furniture, benches or even recycling bins. 

Plastic Recycling in Numbers 

• Households in developed countries throw away 40kg of recyclable plastic per year
• Americans for example throw away 25,000,000 plastic bottles per hour on average.
• One recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a light bulb for 3 hours.
• The amount of petrol used to make one plastic bag would drive a car 11 meters.
• More than half of the energy is saved when plastic products are produced from recycled materials instead of raw materials.
• It takes around 5 recycled plastic bottles to make an extra-large t-shirt or filling for a ski jacket.
• It takes as little as 25 2L plastic bottles to make one adult sized fleece
• Plastic items such as carrier bags and bottles that end up in our oceans kill approximately 1,000,000 sea creatures each and every year.

How can you cooperate? Reduce, Reuse , Recycle 

We can all do a lot to protect the environment and boost a greener economy.  When it comes to plastic usage and disposal there are 3 simple steps to improve our individual impact on the environment ;

1. Reduce - buy less items with less plastic packaging, buy only what you need or are able to use 
2. Reuse - buy refillable containers, reuse plastic bags, use reusable take away coffee cup
3. Recycle - throw plastic in designated bins or bring them to recycling point in grocery stores

Data via : The Environmental Protection Agency  , Plastic makes it possible , Recycling Bins , Earth911, Recycle Everywhere

Images via : 1. clipartkid