Juliets Room

Hows, whats and wheres of recycling plastic  

Plastics are used in a wide range of applications and some plastics items, such as food packaging, become waste only a short time after purchase. Other plastic items lend themselves to be reused many times over.

Reusing plastic is preferable to recycling as it uses less energy and fewer resources. Long life, multi-trip plastics packaging has become more widespread in recent years, replacing less durable and single-trip alternatives, so reducing waste. For example, the major supermarkets have increased their use of returnable plastic crates for transport and display purposes four-fold from 8.5 million in 1992 to an estimated 35.8 million in 2002. They usually last up to 20 years and can be recycled at the end of their useful life.

According to a 2001 Environment Agency report, 80% of post-consumer plastic waste is sent to landfill, 8% is incinerated and only 7% is recycled. In addition to reducing the amount of plastics waste requiring disposal, recycling plastic can have several other advantages:

• Conservation of non-renewable fossil fuels - Plastic production uses 8% of the world's oil production, 4% as feedstock and 4% during manufacture.
• Reduced consumption of energy.
• Reduced amounts of solid waste going to landfill.
• Reduced emissions of carbon-dioxide (CO₂), nitrogen-oxide (NO) and sulphur-dioxide (SO₂).

Degradable plastics

A number of UK retailers have recently introduced degradable carrier bags. These bags are made from plastic which degrades under certain conditions or after a predetermined length of time. There are two types of degradable plastic: bio-degradable plastics, which contain a small percentage of non oil-based material, such as corn starch; and photodegradable plastics, which will break down when exposed to sunlight.

Degradable plastics are already being used successfully in Austria and Sweden, where McDonalds has been using bio-degradable cutlery for three years. This enables all catering waste to be composted without segregation. Carriers for packs of beer cans are now being manufactured in a plastic which photo-degrades in six weeks. There is also potential to use such plastics in non-packaging applications such as computer or car components.

There are a number of concerns over the use of degradable plastics. First, these plastics will only degrade if disposed of in appropriate conditions. For example, a photodegradable plastic product will not degrade if it is buried in a landfill site where there is no light. Second, they may cause an increase in emissions of the greenhouse gas methane, as methane is released when materials biodegrade anaerobically. Third, the mixture of degradable and non-degradable plastics may complicate plastics sorting systems. Last but not least, the use of these materials may lead to an increase in plastics waste and litter if people believe that discarded plastics will simply disappear.

Use of recycled plastic

There is a wide range of products made from recycled plastic.This includes polyethylene bin liners and carrier bags; PVC sewer pipes, flooring and window frames; building insulation board; video and compact disc cassette cases; fencing and garden furniture; water butts, garden sheds and composters; seed trays; anoraks and fleeces; fibre filling for sleeping bags and duvets; and a variety of office accessories.

The Recycled Products Guide (RPG) www.recycledproducts.org.uk is a listing of products made from recycled. Buying recycled products is a practical way of supporting markets for recycled products and 'closing the loop'. In addition, a list of suppliers of goods made from recycled plastic is available on RECOUP's website (see useful contacts).

It takes 25 two litre plastic drinks bottles to make one fleece garment.

What you can do

A note regarding plastic bottle top collections: At present we are aware of only two collectors that will accept plastic milk-bottle tops for cash. If you believe you know of a scheme collecting for wheelchairs or other causes or cash, contact them directly to make 100% certain that they are willing to take bottle tops. The money that can be raised through plastic bottle top collections is small and it may be more worthwhile to collect cans, mobile phones or printer cartridges. If you have already collected a large number of bottle tops then it may be possible to find a reprocessor using the search facility on www.recoup.org.

When you put plastic bottles in recycling banks, or even in your bin, ALWAYS REMOVE THE BOTTLE TOPS.  This also enables them to be crushed more easily so they occupy less space.

• Choose goods with minimal packaging, and which are packaged in a material that can be recycled or returned in your area.
• Try to reduce the need to throw away plastics. For example, take a reusable shopping bag to the supermarket or corner shop, or re-use the bags you were given last time. Don't accept a bag if you don't need one. When they are beyond reuse, plastic carrier bags can be put into collection banks at some Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's supermarkets.

Every year, an estimated 17½ billion plastic bags are given away by supermarkets. This is equivalent to over 290 bags for every person in the UK.

• Rather than throwing them away, give plastic toys or containers to children's scrap stores or playgroups for reuse. Further details can be found here
• Use plastic containers and bags again or make them into something else. For example use yoghurt pots to grow seedlings, use the top part of drinks bottles as cloches for plants and offer clean plastic carrier bags to charity shops.
• Buy products that are refillable.
• Think of ways of reducing the need for packaging. Don't add extra packaging yourself - a melon, a grapefruit or a bunch of bananas already has natural packaging - does it need to go in a plastic bag as well as your shopping bag, and does that already efficiently packaged dairy product or piece of meat really need another wrapper?
• Ask your local authority recycling officers which materials are currently collected or may be collected in the future.
• Look for products, e.g. bin liners and refuse sacks, made from recycled plastic, now available in many supermarkets. Also look out for products packaged in at least partially recycled material. For example, Shell Oil's 1 litre and 4 litre Helix oil packs now contain a proportion of recycled plastic, collected from domestic and industrial waste.
• If it does not already run one, suggest to your local authority that it considers starting a plastics recycling scheme. The development of market opportunities has meant that at the moment demand is outstripping supply of plastic bottles, so new initiatives are needed to feed the process and ensure its success.
• Encourage your local authority to buy products, such as street furniture, made from recycled plastic rather than wood.

via wasteonline.org.uk

 

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