PLASTICS RECYCLING RATES

Plastics comprise approximately 9% by weight of MSW. Of this, 39% is containers and packaging materials. The USA packaging market annually uses 6.2 x 10(9) kg of high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Packaging is the target of plastics recycling efforts. Depending on the material collected, plastics will comprise 4 to 14% by weight of the recyclables in a recycling program. There is a large variation in the amount of plastics collected in plastics recycling programs. A survey of mixed plastics recycling programs indicates that rigid plastic container recycling can capture 7.7-16.3 kg per year per participating household (kg/phh-yr), beverage bottle recycling can capture 3.2-8.2 kg/phh-yr, and colored HDPE bottle recycling will add 3.6 kg/phh-yr. The contribution of non-specified plastics and non-plastic contaminants to plastics recycling programs is dependent on the plastic types collected. Non-specified plastics range from as little as 1% by weight for relatively simple plastics collection (PET and clear HDPE beverage bottles) to as much as 10 to 20% for plastic bottle or colored HDPE recycling. Non-plastic contamination can be 1 to 10% by weight.