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NYC requires people to put only plastic bottles and jugs (and not other types of plastics) in their recycling bins for very good, well-studied reasons. ALSO SEE: Identifying, sorting, and storing up enough of any type of plastic to sell are all extremely important in plastics recycling. It makes sense to limit the range of plastics that have to be identified, sorted, and stored to those that actually can be sold on secondary materials markets and made in to new products. These are #1 and #2 bottles and jugs. Other #1 and #2 plastics, such as some yogurt cups and frozen food trays, are manufactured with different processes and additives, and cannot be mixed with #1 and #2 bottles and jugs in the recycling process. These other plastics do not have strong markets since they are not as easily recycled. Consequently, asking New Yorkers to place only bottles and jugs in their recycling bins captures the largest quantity of the most valuable plastics. Plastic bottles coded #1 and #2 make up 95% of all bottles, so the vast majority of plastic bottles placed out for recycling in NYC do end up being made into new products. The remainder (only about 5%) are discarded as contamination. In fact, NYC's contamination rate is far lower than that of municipal recycling programs in other cities that accept a wider range of plastics. You can be proud to say, "New Yorkers recycle more, waste less!" back to top | back to recycling plastics in nyc | back to all about plastics The Recycling Process: You Can't Just Melt All Plastics Together The plastics recycling process involves grinding plastics into small pellets or flakes, which are eventually melted down to form molten plastic that will be used to create new products. There are many, many different types of plastics, each one must be kept separate in the recycling process. The recyclability of any plastic product depends on not only what resin it is made of, but also the specific plastic molding (e.g. blow molded or injection molded) that was used in manufacture. Each individual type of plastic must be scrupulously kept separate from every other type. If they are melted together, the result is a useless glop that is unsuitable for the fabrication of any new product. Different types of plastic products cannot not be melted together. For example, a #1 bottle or jug cannot be melted with a #1 tub or tray; and a #2 bottle or jug cannot be combined with a #2 plastic bag, and so on. Therefore, contrary to popular opinion, the numerical resin codes do not distinguish between the different types of plastics that can be combined in the recycling process. NYC is working at the federal level to change the codes so that they do not cause this confusion. back to top | back to recycling plastics in nyc | back to all about plastics |  |
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