Although plastics came into our lives in the 1950’s, the safe use of plastics was then in question. It was not until the 1960’s that plastics became a part of our every day living and it was a great thing. It was used in everything from cups to auto parts. But it soon became a strain on our environment. Plastic is not biodegradable so how to dispose of it was a problem.
A program for recycling plastic has been started and it has a code that marks disposable and recyclable plastic containers. We have all become familiar with the three arrows that make up a triangle. These codes are generally found on various plastics and within the triangle, there is usually a number. These numbers tell the grade of recycling your plastic container falls into.
The plastics coded as No.1 are the common consumer product plastics such as water bottles, soda bottles, pill containers and other such containers. When these plastics have been recycled, they become fiberfill which is used in sleeping backs, winter coats, and car bumpers to name a few items. These plastics can be made into combs, cassette tapes, furniture and more plastic bottles.
The No. 2 spot is for the high density plastics such as laundry detergent, bleach, and motor oil containers. This are used to make toys, laminate flooring, and rope and the plastic is accepted at the recycling facilities as is No. 1.
The plastics in the Nos. 3, 4, and 5 spots are the least able to be recycled. These are plastics such as: grocery and sandwich bags, medical tubing, shower curtains, plastic pipes and more followed by plastic bowls and dishes, grocery and sandwich bags and others of this ilk.
The No. 6 spot goes to coffee cups, plastic forks, knives and spoons, take-out food containers and peanuts used for packing as they can be recycled into such things as foam insulation and cassette tapes.
If the triangle contains the number 7 or no number at all, this denotes that the plastic is the least recyclable kind of plastic. Such plastics are usually a combination of the plastics we mentioned before and should not be thrown away but returned to the manufacturer to be disposed of properly.
Research has shown that Americans consumed twenty eight point three gallons of bottled water in 2006. With the recycling programs available to about eighty percent of the American public, some 2.4 billion pounds of plastic bottles have been recycled in 2008 and grows every year. One ton of recycled plastic saves about 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space.
In 2008 during the Keep America Beautiful program, people who volunteered for the Great American Cleanup campaign found and recycled some 189,000,000 plastic bottles that were littering the waterways, highways and parks in the Nation. This proves that recycling works. If you are not yet a recycler, then join the group and recycle your plastics and most importantly those plastic water bottles.
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