The target of 22.5 % recycled plastic packaging waste was met by all Member States, except Malta (19.2 %). It’s easy to miss, but this tiny digit is actually pretty important, because it’s … The symbol is a number, ranging from 1 to 7, within a triangle. Other plastic types may not be permitted in your bin, depending on your municipality’s guidelines. Our team can help your business establish an efficient and cost-effective system for recycling plastics, and we pay competitively for large quantities of plastics including hard-to-recycle varieties. The plastics recycling numbers categorize the different plastics from numbers 1 to 7. The numbers chasing the arrow recycling symbol on plastics are tricky because they can mean different things. It is estimated that 95% of the value of plastic packaging material is lost to the economy after a short first-use cycle. Plastic labeled with the number 2 is often recycled into toys, piping, truck bed liners, and rope. Always check with your local municipality to confirm that a plastic material can be recycled in your community. This code gives us information about the plastic such as chemicals used to produce it, safety of the plastic and how biodegradable it is – but don't let this recycle logo fool you! While the figure gives an indication of the type of plastic, it says nothing about hardness, shape or consistency. Grocery stores collect these bags for proper plastics recycling. 'Recovered' is a broader term than 'recycling' and refers to material that is not sent to landfil and is repurposed in some way, it includes recovering energy from waste (incineration). These. A few things: Trust your plastics recycling questions to Miller Recycling. Every plastic container or bottle has a recycling symbol. They are becoming more commonly accepted as technology improves and as the market for these plastics grows. This has not been the case (for a long time now) in practice. But it does not indicate that you can fearlessly use safer plastic. Rigid plastics such as icing buckets, milk crates, seafood trays, and pharmaceutical containers are not accepted in single stream recycling. Wellington to only recycle numbers 1, 2 and 5 plastic - unless it's a meat tray. It’s not viable for some plastics recycling companies to take hard-to-process plastic products like Styrofoam. The recycling symbol on the back of plastic packaging is something we have all seen, the triangle shape made out of three arrows chasing each other with a number called the resin ID code (RIC). 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The low share of plastic recycling in the EU means big losses for the economy as well as for the environment. What’s recyclable in one community could be trash in another. This plastic is one of the 3 plastics. Plastic can be one of the most confusing materials to identify for recycling. ALL CONTENT © 2006 - 2020 . PP is used to make the food containers used for products like yogurt, sour cream and margarine. It is recycled into plastic lumber and other custom-made products. Plastic #1 is recycled into tote bags, furniture, carpet, paneling, fiber, and polar fleece. It can be used in your home or place of business to provide an at-a-glance summary of various plastics, where they are commonly used and if they can be placed in your recycle bin. Here is some information on the various recycling symbols and numbers: In the end, it’s really best to avoid using all plastics if you’re able. Plastic #3 is used to make food wrap, plumbing pipes, and detergent bottles, and is seldom accepted by curbside recycling programs. Only the most common types of plastic are numbered – there are many more plastics than numbers and new plastics are being made all the time. Curbside recycling programs haven’t been known to pick up this plastic, but more are starting to accept it. Generally speaking, plastics using resin numbers 1 and 2 can be placed in your kerbside bin, however different authorities have varying rules about the other resin numbers; so you should contact your local recycling/waste … At Miller Recycling, plastic is one of the materials we receive and process. PET or PETE is what’s used to make bottles for soda, water and other drinks. A lot of plastic wrappings are made of LDPE plastic. Your recycling bin is part of the solution, but many of us are confused about what we should be putting in there. Styrofoam products are made out of PS plastic, so it’s commonly used to make disposable coffee cups, packing peanuts, coolers and to-go food containers. Plastics such as nylon fall into this group. Life is complicated enough without having to commit to memory the ways that HDPE differs from LDPE; unless, of course, you work in the plastics recycling industry. Increasingly becoming accepted by curbside recycle programs, plastic #5 is also. Accepted materials in recycling programs vary from city to city. Polypropylene is recycled into brooms, auto battery cases, bins, pallets, signal lights, ice scrapers, and bycycle racks. Some centers can recycle codes #1 (soft), #4, and #5. This kind of plastic also poses a health risk, leaching potentially toxic chemicals, especially when heated. Plastic #2 is recycled into pens, recycling containers, picnic tables, lumber, benches, fencing, and detergent bottles, to name a few. Some plastics are coded with numbers ranging from 1 to 7, which identify the basic resin type of the plastic. The presence of a resin code doesn’t necessarily mean that the product can be recycled. The presence of a resin code doesn’t necessarily mean that the product can be recycled. 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