At the end of their useful lives, disposable plastic containers are recyclable, and they can be recycled often up to a maximum of six times in the industry.
If it does not make financial or environmental sense to recycle, then old plastics should be sent to facilities that generate energy from waste to offer much-required electricity.
It is not acceptable to dispose of used plastics in landfills.
This is a terrible use of a resource that is of great value.
Plastic packaging accounts for just around 5% of the garbage that is sent to landfills but makes up about 8% of all household waste.
In 2005, 21.8% of old plastic packaging was recycled, although that number is fast growing as an increasing number of local agencies collect plastic.
In 2007, around 33% of plastic bottles that were accessible from homes were recycled, representing a 15% increase over the previous year's numbers.
The European Union Directive on Waste Packaging has established a goal of 22.5% to be attained by the 31st of December in 2008.
Pipes, pots, crates, and other molded items are the primary end products that may be created from recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE), although recovered films can be used to create sacks, bags, and damp-proof membranes.
Even though there is an increasing demand for PET for closed loop packaging, the great majority of recovered PET is still put to use in the polyester fiber business.
A record-breaking 42,000 tons of leftover PVC from the building industry in the UK were recycled in the previous year.
It was repurposed into floor coverings, flooring, window frames, piping, conduits, and safety goods.
The previous year, 33% of the Expanding Polystyrene (EPS) used in packaging was collected and recycled.
Since the discovery of numerous methods for the synthesis of polymers from petrochemical sources, the plastics sector has seen a substantial amount of development, which can be seen today.
Plastics offer significant advantages over many other kinds of materials due to their low weight, high durability, and inexpensive cost in comparison to those other materials.
In 2007, it was projected that the worldwide output of polymers, including thermoplastics, thermoset plastics, adhesives and coatings, and other types of polymers, totaled 260 million metric tons per year.
This estimate did not include the manufacturing of synthetic fibers.
This points to a historical growth rate of around 9 percent every year on average.
Thermoplastic resins account for about two-thirds of this output, and their use is expanding at a rate of around five percent each year.
In today's world, almost all plastics are generated from petrochemicals, which are in turn obtained from fossil fuels such as oil and gas.
