Plastic Recycling Facts

The Recycling Infrastructure

The plastics recycling infrastructure includes 2015 companies; 1,677 processing post-consumer plastics, 207 processing post-industrial plastics and 131 brokers and exporters.
Since 1990, the number of processing facilities in the post-consumer plastics recycling industry has grown by 81 percent, from 923 facilities in 1990 to 1,677 facilities in 1999.
Of the 1,677 post-consumer plastics recycling facilities, 1,295 facilities are consolidation facilities (primarily sort and bale) while 382 facilities are reprocessors (grind, wash, pelletize).
Of the 382 post-consumer plastic reclamation facilities, 265 facilities are vertically integrated into product manufacturing.
The Midwestern U.S. has the highest concentration of plastics recycling facilities with 593, followed closely by the Southern U.S. with 415.
PET and HDPE plastic bottles are the most common materials handled at facilities recycling post-consumer plastics.
There are 74 post-consumer plastics recycling companies that focus on plastic bottle recycling. Twenty of these companies recycle PET bottles and fifty-eight companies recycle HDPE bottles. Four of the companies process both resins.
The U.S. plastics recycling industry employs more than 53,000 persons.

Source: Summer 1999 Plastics Recycling Markets Database, R.W. Beck, Inc., September, 1999.

The Communities

More than 20,000 communities, 63 percent of the nation's total, are estimated to have access to a community recycling program (curbside or drop-off) that collects plastics.
Almost all major urban areas in the U.S. have recycling collection programs resulting in approximately 80 percent of the U.S. population (over 148 million people) having convenient access to a plastics recycling collection program.
PET bottles (soda, water) and HDPE bottles (milk, laundry detergent) are by far the most commonly collected plastic materials in community recycling programs.
10% of all households have the ability to recycle all plastic bottles (resin identification codes #1 through #7) in their community.

Source: APC's 1998 Community Survey, R.W. Beck, Inc., November, 1998.

Recycling Quantities and Rates

Over 1.5 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic bottles were recycled during 1999, accounting for 22 percent (by weight) of all plastic bottles produced in the United States.
Post-consumer plastic bottle recycling has increased dramatically over the last ten years, from 234 million pounds in 1989 to over 1.5 billion pounds in 1999.
95% of all plastic bottles in the United States market are manufactured from PET or HDPE (48% and 47% respectively).
HDPE and PET bottles showed the highest recycling rates of any plastic bottles types, at 23.8 and 22.8 percent respectively.
Domestic capacity to reclaim PET and HDPE plastic bottles significantly exceeds recycled quantities, stressing the need to reinvigorate community collection programs.

Source: APC's 1999 National Post-Consumer Plastics Recycling Study, R.W. Beck, Inc. September 2000.

Markets for Recycled Plastics

56% of recycled PET finds a market in the manufacture of fiber (carpet and clothing).
Other large markets for recycled PET are for strapping (13%) and new containers (14% -food and non-food).
29% of recycled HDPE bottles go into making new bottles.
The plastic pipe industry consumes 18% of the recycled HDPE.
Other strong markets for HDPE are for lawn and garden products (such as edging), plastic lumber (decks, benches, picnic tables), film and sheet, and a variety of injection molding products (buckets, crates and automobile parts).

Source: APC's 1999 National Post-Consumer Plastics Recycling Study, R.W. Beck, Inc. September 2000.

Plastics in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

All plastic products accounted for 9.9% of Municipal Solid Waste generation by weight in 1997. Plastics were in fifth place behind Paper and Paperboard, Yard Trimmings, Food Waste, and Other Wastes.
Plastic packaging accounted for 4.3% of all waste generated in 1997.

Source: Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste in the United States: 1998 Update, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.