Plastic is not like an aluminum can that can go around more or less infinitely, returning to the same quality with each recycling. Plastic degrades, its molecular bonds deteriorating with each cycle. As a result, plastic isn't so much recycled in most cases as it is down-cycled. Virgin materials have to be added to boost the quality, which is why you see things like "with recycled content" as opposed to "100% recycled material". And the step down is rapid. Pretty soon it isn't good for much other than shredding up and blowing into your attic as fiberglass insulation.

BPA is a "chemical known to cause cancer or reproductive harm," per the California government. Nationally, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned its use in polycarbonate plastic baby bottles and sippy cups for similar reasons. According to the FDA: "As is the case when foods are in direct contact with any packaging material, small, measurable amounts of the packaging materials may migrate into food and can be consumed with it." And yet, BPA is still allowed in the same food and beverage vessels targeted for use by adults (and is used in cash register receipts, can liners, and elsewhere). The EU and other countries have similarly banned its use in baby bottles due to concerns about its effects as an endocrine disrupter on hormonal and reproductive systems. 

Whether from juice boxes, almond milk cartons, soup cartons, or otherwise — anything that is a Tetra Pak-style container — all ends up in the landfill in Austin. Such containers are supposed to go in the brown/trash bin, according to the City. If you throw them in the blue/recycling bin, then all you do is contaminate the recycling stream, placing a burden on the recycling facility to pull the cartons out (and pay to send them to the dump). If the cartons make it past the sorters at the recycling facility, then they contaminate the bales of plastic sold to converters, further hurting profitability. Special (and expensive) equipment is needed to handle this particular type of packaging, in part because it utilizes multiple layers of different materials (e.g. plastic, paperboard, and aluminum) that are fused together, making the materials difficult, if not impossible, to separate. Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio can take containers, but not Austin. Other smaller municipalities likely also struggle as well.

They can be composted, though. It is a complicated matter as to whether bioplastics are helpful are harmful, depending on how the materials are certified, what processing facilities exist locally, and where users dispose of the materials. Some materials are certified for aerobic composting (typical outdoor windrow-style composting) while others are certified only for anaerobic composting (indoor facilities that are more industrial in nature), and others are not certified at all. Austin only has aerobic facilities. But that only matters if the materials are disposed of in the right place. Bioplastics are not recyclable. If thrown in the blue bin, they contaminate the recycling materials stream. If thrown in the green bin, then they will either be useful or harmful, depending on how the product is certified. To the best of our understanding, hardly any bioplastics will break down completely if you toss them in your backyard compost pile — likewise if they enter a landfill. We aim to have more information in this space, possibly dedicated to its own page as our understanding deepens. 

The New York Times notes that, "although materials like paper or metals are widely recycled, less than 10 percent of plastic consumed in the United States is recycled, according to the most recent estimates by the Environmental Protection Agency. Instead, most plastic is incinerated or dumped in landfills, with the exception of some types of resins, like the kind used for bottled water or soda."

Unfortunately, only #'s 1 (PET, e.g. water bottles) and 2 (HDPE - rigid plastic) have much market value. Recycling is certainly better than not recycling, but do consider that it is often difficult for the materials recovery facility ("MRF") to offload the bales of #3-7 materials at much of a profit. Prices do fluctuate, and sometimes are better than others, but Recycling is only the third "R" in Reduce, Reuse, Recycle for a reason. Films and any packaging that combines different types of plastic materials together into a mixed-material product have the lowest market values (and plastic bags just clog up the machines, creating damage and downtime if tossed in the blue/recycling bin). Polypropylene (PP, #5), for example, is not accepted by many MRFs, though it is accepted in Austin. Polystyrene (PS, #6) is particularly burdensome and low value and is not accepted in Austin single-stream recycling bins, as is the case in many areas. It is seen more as "theoretically" recyclable than actually recyclable at the practical level, despite the plastics industry giving themselves a "chasing arrows" symbol for it. Overall, a lot more plastic that is conscientiously placed in recycling bins ends up in the landfill or is incinerated than is commonly understood due to a lack of end-market for the recovered materials. 

Those #1-7 recycling symbols were not created by a government agency or altruistic environmental group. Nor was the marketing and public relations campaign that launched them. See the below link to National Public Radio's expose on the origins and misleading marketing campaign regarding the recyclability of plastic. See also the documentary video "The History of Plastic" in our Videos and Podcasts page.

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) firms are brand owners whose products' success depends on their image in the marketplace — and these brand owners are increasingly listening to consumers. But that only matters if consumers actually tell them what they think. Flip over most products made by a large consumer goods company and you will find a 1-800 number on the back. You can also reach out through email via their websites to let them know if you think their band is tainted by virtue of unsustainable packaging in the form of hard-to-recycle multi-materials (like plastic and cardboard glued together, or metal embedded in plastic) rather than utilizing mono-material packaging. You can also vote with your pocketbook — or do both, vote with your pocketbook and let them know that you would like to return to their brand once the packaging is sustainable.

Austin, South Padre Island, Port Aransas, Fort Stockton, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, and Kermit, TX are amongst the cities — both large and small, both conservative and liberal — placed on notice following a Texas Supreme Court verdict in a suit brought by the Laredo Merchants Association against the City of Laredo for its plastic bag ban.

Quite literally — loose bottle caps and other small items that are less than 2" in diameter often end up in the landfill due to falling through the sorting machines at materials recycling facilities. Think of all those caps, bread bag clips, straws, and other small items that go into the blue bins. Collecting them into a single container and taking them to a drop-off facility may help, but better to leave the caps on the bottle — if they are made of the same material, that is (see elsewhere on our site regarding mono-material packaging). If they are not the same material, then call the brand owner and speak to them about improving their packaging (and/or choose different brands). See also videos of materials recovery facilities (MRFs) in action from the Videos and Podcasts page in the Info Corner section of our website.

TotalEnergies, Plastic Energy Ltd., and Freepoint Eco-Systems LLC have announced a strategic partnership that would create demand for 33,000 tons of post-consumer recycled plastic waste per year. Chemical recycling converts plastics back into their virgin molecular forms before reentering the stream and, importantly, can make use of plastics that have already been down-cycled or which are lower-value materials that MRFs often find difficult to offload at a profit. Note that the oils produced by chemical recycling are often burned as fuel, thereby not actually displacing the production of new plastics. In this case, however, Plastic Energy and Freepoint would build the plant (scheduled for commissioning in 2024), and Total would take the output to be used at its existing Texas plastics packaging plants. This assists with a more circular economy by displacing petrochemical feedstock with recycled feedstock while boosting demand for MRF output.

According to a Wall Street Journal report citing UBS research, roughly 50 billion pieces of clothing annually are either incinerated or sent to landfill within a year of purchase. Approximately half of the 100 billion pieces sold per year are also tossed within a year. Less than 1% of garments are turned into new ones due to the difficulty in sorting blended fabrics that contain synthetic (i.e., plastic) fibers.

That is more than the  1-3¢ cost of plastic forks that we priced on the same day, but the metal versions  will pay for themselves in only a week or two — and can be used hundreds  more times after that. When we previously priced plastic v. metal forks, the difference was only 6x rather than 11x between metal and the cheapest plastic forks — and was even less of a differential for the heavier-weighted plastic forks. As such, cost is certainly not the reason restauranteurs are using plastic. Wooden forks started in the 5¢ range, bioplastic forks at 8¢, and bamboo at closer to 12¢, from what we could find. We had to look elsewhere for these, though, as the restaurant supply store we visited did not carry other alternatives to plastic due to lack of demand. 

The main problem is that plastics pigmented with carbon black (by far the most common black coloring agent) cannot be detected by optical sorting equipment. And if the equipment can't tell that an object is plastic, then the item is usually channeled to the landfill. Think of all those black food trays that are somewhat deceptively stamped with chasing arrows symbols. An additional problem is that richly colored plastics (of any color) turn a murky grey when recycled together. As a result, brand owners won't pay nearly as much for such post-consumer materials. Clear plastic is by far the best from a recyclability standpoint as it fetches the highest price when it is recovered. That helps municipalities cover overhead costs and invest more in infrastructure, which boosts recycling. Such non-colored materials are also more likely to be recycled than down-cycled into inferior products that are less circular.  Light blue and green are next best as they are baled separately and obtain an intermediate price between clear and other/mixed bales.  Equipment, labor, and other costs are the same for all three types of bales, though, so improving the mix goes directly to the bottom line. The general rule is that the heavier the pigmentation, the lower the post-consumer value. So, producers, please leave the colorful bits for the labels rather than the main packaging.