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.
![plastic](../images/recyclable18.png)
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.
![plastic types](../images/plastictypes.png)
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 |
![plastic](../images/recyclable25.png) |
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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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