Old Plastic in New Places

The final product is many times the most intriguing part of the recycling process. While materials such as aluminum and glass often become a newer version of their former selves, plastic is another story.

For a plastic bottle, there’s a world of opportunity once it gets tossed in the recycling bin. It can end up as lumber, the lining for a fleece jacket or even the casing for a cell phone. Bags and other forms of plastic can also be turned into seemingly unrelated items that we use on a daily basis.

More than 80 percent of U.S. households have access to a plastics recycling program, be it curbside or community drop-off centers. Photo: Flickr/Nemo's great uncle

Resin Recognition

The first step in making new products from recycled plastic is separating them by resin. Plastic must be melted down, and resins have different melting points. This is where plastic resin identification codes come in handy.

One of the most common plastics used to create new products is polyethylene terephthalate (PETE), designated with a #1. It has the same characteristics as polyester used in textiles, which makes it a natural fit for lining jackets and sleeping bags, as well as producing recycled carpet.

In the past, PETE and high density polyethylene (HDPE, or #2 plastic) provided the largest market for reprocessing, and as a result, were more widely accepted in recycling programs. But according to the American Chemistry Council, in 2007 more than 325 million pounds of other plastics were recovered in the U.S. and used for products such as crates and pallets.

Meet the Manufacturers

Once resins are separated, melted and sold off, there’s still work before a new product is born. Here’s an overview of how some of the larger manufacturers work their magic with recycled plastic:

Trex Company

Trex specializes in recycled plastic lumber and collects many forms of plastic, including bags. The resin is mixed with equal amounts of reclaimed wood, which also prevents additional trees from needing to be cut down. The end result has the strength of traditional lumber, but because it is coated with plastic, a longer-lasting product is created with less chance of damage from moisture and insects.

Recycled plastic bottles make hundreds of everyday products, including fleece jackets, carpeting and lumber for outdoor decking. Photo: Ansonylon.com

Trex uses 300,000 tons of recycled plastic and wood in its products every year. It is also the destination for approximately 70 percent of the recycled plastic bags in the U.S.

Shaw Floors

Similar to Trex, Shaw created its own program for recycling plastic. The company opened a carpet recycling facility in Augusta, Ga. and is now working on a PET recycling facility that will be able to process 280 million pounds of the material annually.

The new plant should be constructed by early 2010, and the PET resin it processes will be used as an ingredient in new carpet.

Shaw features an entire line of recycled carpet known as Anso Nylon. The company is partnering with home builders to feature this product in newly constructed green homes.

Recycline

One of the newer companies to specialize in recycled plastic products, Recycline manufactures the Preserve line of products made from recycled polypropylene (PP, or #5 plastic). These products are created by molding PP resin into everything from toothbrushes to tableware.

Recycline acquires its PP resin from both the private and public sectors. It partners with Stonyfield Farm to collect pre-consumer plastic waste created during yogurt cup manufacturing, collects #5 at Whole Foods locations and offers a mail-in program for consumers to ship their old #5 plastic.

What’s the Impact?

So, the question still remains: Why is there a need to reprocess plastic into completely different products instead of just turning it back into recyclable containers? In other words, why can’t that water bottle become another water bottle? The answer is in the recycling process itself.

The mixing of multiple HDPE-based products (such as water bottles, shampoo containers and detergent tubs together into one batch) creates a plastic that can no longer qualify for food-grade products but can be made into other containers as well as new concepts such as carpets.

This means that to create a new bottle from recycled plastic, it would typically require virgin plastic resin as well as chemical additives. “In some cases it requires more energy and resources (e.g., water) to recycle plastics into the same material,” says Steve Russell, vice president of the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council.

It’s true that new plastic containers are recyclable while lumber and fleece jackets do not have established recycling programs. However, not recycling plastics means they’ll only have a one-time use, versus years of use for other types of products.

Regardless of what the plastic is used for, recycling is still paramount to encouraging the use of this material for new goods. “It’s important to keep in mind that demand for recycled plastics typically outpaces supply,” says Russell.