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Frequently Asked Questions - Plastics

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Frequently Asked Questions - Plastics FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - PLASTICS 1. What plastics do you take for recycling? We can only accept plastic bottles, jugs, and jars. Don’t worry about the numbers. As long as it is a clean plastic bottle, jug, or jar, we can take it. 2. What do the numbers on plastics mean? The symbol code you see – a single digit ranging from 1 to 7 and surrounded by a triangle of arrows – was designed by The Society of the Plastics Industry in 1988 to allow consumers and recyclers to differentiate types of plastics while providing a uniform coding system for manufacturers. The numbers, which 39 U.S. states now require to be molded or imprinted on all eight- ounce to five-gallon containers that can accept the half-inch minimum-size symbol, identify the type of resin the plastic is made from. The resins are: • #1 PET or PETE is made from Polyethylene Terephthalate • #2 HDPE is made from High Density Polyethylene • #3 PVC is made from Polyvinyl Chloride • #4 LDPE is made from Low Density Polyethylene • #5 PP is made from Polypropylene • #6 PS is made from Polystyrene • #7 OTHER is made from a resin other than the six listed above 3. Why don’t you take all plastics for recycling? The confusion over what we can and cannot recycle continues to confound consumers. Plastics are especially troublesome, as the different types of plastic require different processing to be reformulated and re-used as raw material. Some municipalities can accept all types of plastic for recycling. They, however, are often located near a niche market. Others, like ours, can only accept plastic bottles, jugs, and jars. Right now it isn't possible to sell all kinds of plastics to a factory to make new products. Either the markets do not exist at all or they are so far away that the expense to ship them becomes excessive and you end up burning more oil in fuel usage getting them to a market than you save by recycling them. Recycling arrows on a plastic container does not automatically mean that the container can be recycled. The different kinds of plastics can't be mixed together to be recycled. Plastics must be separated into their individual resin types. Each resin reacts differently when it is reprocessed into a new item, because different resins melt at different temperatures. Factories that make new products out of plastics are set up to take only specific resin types. Even resins with the same number can't always be recycled together. You might wonder why some plastics with the same # can be recycled and some can’t. It depends on how the plastics were made. Some #2 plastics, for example, are "injection molded" and some are "blow molded". These two different processes create chemical combinations that react differently when they are melted down for recycling. So they can't be mixed together. 3. Why don’t you take plastic lids and bottle caps for recycling? Recycling Lids and Caps Can Contaminate Recycled Plastic and Endanger Workers. Most municipal recycling programs throughout the United States do not accept plastic lids, tops and caps, even though they take the containers that accompany them. The reason is that lids typically are not made from the same kind of plastic as their containers, and therefore should not be mixed together with them. Plastic Lids and Plastic Containers Don’t Mix. Just about any plastic can be recycled but when two types are mixed, one contaminates the other, reducing the value of the material or requiring resources to separate them before processing. Trying to Recycle Plastic Lids and Caps Can Pose Dangers to Workers. Also, plastic caps and lids can jam processing equipment at recycling facilities, and the plastic containers with tops still on them may not compact properly during the recycling process. They can also present a safety risk for recycling workers. Most plastic bottles are baled for transport, and if they don’t crack when baled the ones with tightly fastened lids can explode when the temperature increases. Discard Plastic Lids and Caps. Given the many potential issues with plastic lids and caps, recyclers typically do not accept them. Thus, it is hard to believe but true: The responsible consumers are the ones who throw their plastic caps and lids into the trash instead of the recycling bin. 4. Why can’t I put plastic bags in the recycling bin? Plastic bags and other thin plastic films get tangled in recycling equipment and conveyer belts. Plastic bags can also contaminate paper bales and may cause them to be rejected by paper mills, so do not place plastic bags or other film plastics in the recycling bins. .
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