Plastic
Plastic is the most used material in the world, but only 5% is recycled. It is made from petroleum, so the more petroleum burned for new products, the more greenhouse gases.
Recyclable plastic products have a numeric code (1-7) with a recycle symbol on them, indicating what kind of plastic they are and how they can be recycled.
The most common recyclable plastics are of the type "1", "2", "3", "4", "5" and "7". Plastic type "6" is not widely accepted yet.. |
The Fantastic Material - Look What Plastic Becomes
Plastic Type/Description |
Becomes |
Plastic #1
Soda/water bottles, milk jugs, detergent and cooking oil bottles, food jars |
Toys, pipes, lumber, flower pots, trash cans, oil and cleaning supply containers |
Plastic #2
Detergent bottles, milk/water/
juice containers, grocery bags |
New bottles, textiles, carpet, fiber filling, pillow fabric, quilts, jackets, shrink-wrap, grocery bags, food, packaging |
Plastic #3
Plastic pipes, outdoor furniture, shrink-wrap, water bottles |
New of the same plastic |
Plastic #4
Food containers, dry-cleaning and produce bags, trash can liners |
New of the same, plastic tubing and sheets, plastic lumber |
Plastic #5
Ketchup bottles, aerosol caps, drinking straws, yogurt containers |
New of the same |
| Plastic #6 |
Not widely accepted yet |
Plastic #7
Multi-gallon water bottles |
New of the same and plastic lumber |
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Benefits of Plastics Recyling
Plastic bags (film plastic) can be recycled at many grocery stores. If we recycled all plastics, we could reduce oil consumption and save 25% of landfill space. The plastic recycling business creates over 200,000 American jobs.
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What You Can Do
Buy a glass or metal beverage container, wash and reuse it. Know which plastics (1-7) are accepted by recyclers.Buy recycled plastic products and plastics that can be recycled. Store food in glass containers to reduce buying plastic. |
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