US municipalities and many other places in Europe have taken recycling to the next level and accomplished a huge percentage of remanufacturing and reuse of some materials. Most of these high numbers apply to paper and cardboard (or the proper corrugated fiberboard name often seen just as corrugates) and Plastic boxes from the types of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and HDPE (high density polyethylene). In addition, metal beverage cans have also reached a successful reuse with chances that next time someone opens a soda can in the US, it would most likely be its sixth or seventh use after initial manufacturing from virgin raw materials.
Not all plastics are from PET and HDPE tough. While these two categories represent the bulk of the used plastics in households and industry, there is still a good number of other products derived from petroleum or bio-based materials which fall outside this category of highly recycled percentage. This disparity is largely due to the fact that plastics have different requirements and features and as a result they have varying properties which are crucial in recycling processes such as melting point for example. While this might seem trivial at first, material recycling facilities are not always equipped to handle such variety of recyclates which drives the price of the final recycled resin up to levels which make it uncompetitive with other sources of raw materials.
These facts, rather reasonably, raise the question of whether biodegradable or oxy-based plastics are really as good as their marketing and advertising campaigns promise. Surely, use of such products sounds good, pro-environmental and encouraging green packaging and eco-friendly products. The truth, however, could be buried in the economics. Most municipal facilities are not equipped to handle these newer types of packaging which cause them to end up in the general stream of recyclates. This leads to contaminants in the mixture driving overall product quality down.
One step consumers could take, to alleviate the situation and help collection facilities, is to collect the biodegradable packaging separately. PET bottles would normally be identified by the number 1 on the bottom of the plastic bottle etc. If this number is for example 7 – for other, this could designate a bio-based material which is best off with the commingled or mixed type garbage – its properties should allow it to degrade in a landfill.
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