We know that plastics recycling can be confusing. "Environmental NGOs are keeping a close eye on emerging recycling methods," says Paula Chin, sustainable materials specialist at the conservation organisation WWF. Big box stores, supermarkets, office supply chains, and hardware stores often act as drop-off centers for plastics that municipalities do not accept. Please put tape on battery terminals and bring to a local retailer or one of Bostons Household Hazardous Waste Days for proper and safe disposal. What is Ethical Honey and How Can I Find It? As a result, when in doubt, a mystery plastic that doesn't fit any other resin category in the 1 through 6 groups is likely a plastic #7. You canrequest a cart through BOS:311: You can turn a trash can into a recycling bin with a sticker from 311. "Types of Plastic." This vapour is cooled in a distillation column and the condensed liquids are separated on a boiling range to produce four hydrocarbon liquids and oils: naphtha, distillate gas oil, heavy gas oil and heavy wax residue, akin to bitumen. ALL CONTENT 2006 - 2022 . If it's not labeled, contact the manufacturer and ask what it's made of. Plastic can be recycled one to 10 times, depending on the type, although most can be recycled only once. PVC is a soft, flexible plastic, so its used for a huge array of household products. Plastic bags should go in the garbage or brought to a plastic bag drop-off location. PVC can rarely be recycled, but it is accepted by some plastic lumber makers. Organic contaminants such as food residue or soil are able to pass through the process. Still, do check with your local recycling facility, because some cities do accept one or more of these codes and,as technology improves, more cities will do so. It includes non-recyclables and corn-based plastics (PLA). HDPE plastics are also extremely common. Visiting a friend recently I noticed her large collection of plastic containers, many decades old. The problem is that if we throw non-recyclable plastics into the blue bin, they can contaminate the entire recycling stream. Here are some ideas of plastic #7 you may find in your home: Bio-based plastics made from potato, sugar, or corn derivatives. ASTM International, 2020., doi:10.1520/D7611_D7611M-20. Contact: PUBLIC WORKS. It is important to monitor the success of your recycling program, Request recycling and yard waste stickers, Schedule a special collection item for pickup. At Miller Recycling, plastic is one of the materials we receive and process. A few years ago, China accepted much of the world's plastic, textile, and paper recycling. See more information below thischart. The digital emissions from this story are an estimated 1.2g to 3.6g CO2 per page view. Many supermarkets now serve as drop-off locations. Here are the seven standard classifications for plastics, and the recycling and reuse information for each type. Any type of plastic that doesnt fit into one of the first six categories falls under this heading. Answer: We pointed this question to Jennifer Almeida of the town recycling department, who said these rings can't go in regular recycling. Recycling carts are collected every other week on your regular trash collection day. Jon and Jo Ann Hagler on behalf of the Jon L. Hagler Foundation. What do the recycling numbers mean? In 2017 two billion pounds of plastic waste were sent to China and Hong Kong, the same. A lot of plastic wrappings are made of LDPE plastic. The first commercial-scale unit was installed in Perth in Scotland in 2020. Hi William, Thanks for your question. We accept credit card payments online, by phone, and in person. PVC products CANNOT be recycled. Your bottle is washed, shredded and packed into a bale ready for transportation to the recycling centre so far, the same as the conventional process. ", A pilot plant has shown that the use of very hot, supercritical water can help chemical recycling scale-up to useful levels (Credit: Licella). Without knowing the materials, it is difficult to say what, if any, can be recycled. This 1 through 7 numbering system is called a resin identification code. But Mura argues that their plant will fill a much-needed niche. (Some do, though, so check with your local solid waste management office.) Assume that nothing with the #7 number can be recycled or reused. RECYCLING IN THE CITY OF BOSTON Items you can not recycle: PLASTIC BAGS Return to nearest retail location for recycling CLOTHES Including Shoes and Stuffed Animals . Plus, its very difficult to clean or remove harmful chemicals. Polyethylene terephthalate, abbreviated PET or PETE, is commonly used for drink bottles and food containers. MILLER RECYCLING CORPORATION |. (Mr.TinDC / Flickr) No. Watch an excerpt. And don't forget you CAN recycle plastic can carriers at certain locations. I have a #2 Tylenol bottle and will recycle it, but don't know if I can include the screw-on cap. Bring your unwanted or broken electronics to our Household Hazardous Waste Days. Become a Recycling Expert Also known as the resin identification code, or RIC, each number imprinted on a plastic product indicates the type of plastic resin that product is made with. For example: #1 (PET), ex: water bottles highest recycling value; keep out of the sun to prevent toxins leaking into the container (no bueno for your health). Donate them through a local clothing drive, drop box, reuse store, or sign up for a home pickup. This step is completely reliant upon businesses, restaurants, and the public to dispose of their plastic waste in the correct place. Avoiding plastic will remain the best way to lower plastic pollution. Recycled plastic is eco-friendlier than virgin plastic because it diverts waste from landfills. Im asking because I need a temporary storage for coins and pvc will damage them, In reply to PVC? Most milk jugs, detergent containers, and oil bottles are made from HDPE. We all know that the triangle symbol () on the bottom of plastic bottles means to recycle. The buyback at the same address is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Saturday. LDPE is thinner and more flexible than HDPE. Ready to Detox Your Oral Care? READ MORE. Its shape. Grocery bags, sandwich bags, and cling wrap are made from it, and these items are not commonly accepted by curbside services, but an increasing number of supermarket drop-off programs are cropping up around the country. Give your local facility a call to see if they accept plastic codes #1 (soft), #4, and #5. Thats a deal breaker, because the impact of growing that food is much more than the impact of producing the packaging.. Plastic #7 is even more difficult to recycle and almost always excluded. The City supplies large, 64-gallon recycling containers to residents of buildings with six units or less. 4. One industry-backed initiative is now encouraging companies to put new, clearer recycling labels on their packaging, while some local recycling programs ask residents to ignore the symbol and numbers altogether. "We want to use as much renewable energy as possible and will be seeking, wherever practical, to aim for 100%," says Mahon. Ball up your clean foil. One major challenge today is that recycling plastic has steep competition from new plastic, which is cheaper due to the abundance of low-cost shale gas used to make it. It's a bit like cooking," explained Mura's chief executive, Steve Mahon. Heres What to Eat. The recycling program is primarily for: Metal cans and foil Glass bottles and jars Plastic containers Paper and cardboard. Every year, more than 380 million tonnes of plastic is produced worldwide. Some sophisticated processes can separate these compounds and make new PVC for things like pipes, carpet backing, and fencing, but the difficulty and complexity of this process make it unlikely that the compounds would be strong enough to withstand recycling more than once. DO rinse recyclable containers clean. Lets Un-Plastic Your Bathroom, Shall We? It's damaging to coins, stamps, baseball cards, family photos, and anything else you store in those clear plastic pocket-pages and page protectors. Does PET Plastic Contain BPA? Chemicals present in polystyrene have been linked with human health and reproductive system dysfunction. 17-18. Take aluminum, which can be recycled indefinitely using 95 percent less energy than it takes to produce new aluminum. Additionally, if the end product of chemical recycling is an oil used for fuel then the process does not reduce the need for virgin plastic, and burning such fuels would release greenhouse gases just as ordinary fossil fuels do. Republic Services, Inc. (NYSE: RSG) is an industry leader in U.S. recycling and non-hazardous solid waste disposal. Thats also true of paper bags, which have a bigger overall footprint than plastic ones. 4: LDPE (Low density polyethylene) A lot of plastic wrappings are made of LDPE plastic. As one of Massachusetts's largest trash and recycling service partners, we pride ourselves on customer service and environmental stewardship. Avoid polystyrene as best as possible. Ketchup bottles. Find practical tips and natural alternatives to the harmful toxins that invade our everyday lives. It is of course plastic, and this durability is also what makes the material so useful. These can then be recycled into items such as flower pots, toys, traffic cones, and trash cans. But what if there was a way to turn plastic back into the stuff it was made from? Bottom-line, there are seven types of plastics. Recycling Numbers 1-7 Breakdown #1 PET or PETE Polyethylene Terephthalate Claim your home to stay up-to-date of your homes value and equity. EPS is made from petroleum, like most plastics. Plastic #7 is even more difficult to recycle and almost alwaysexcluded. Find a drop-off bin near you . Recycle plastics #1 thru #7. Packaging is usually only a small part of a products environmental footprint. The plastic is then shredded and cleaned, before being mixed with supercritical water. In the US, the chemical company Ineos has become the first to use a technique called depolymerisation on a commercial scale to produce recycled polyethylene, which goes into carrier bags and shrink film. From maine.gov: '#1 Plastics [can include] plastic bottles'. The last plastic-type that can be recycled is PP also called polypropylene. The Coca-Cola Company recently started to make their Sprite bottles from clear PET plastic, moving away from green. You'll receive access to exclusive information and early alerts about our documentaries and investigations. Check the MassDEP Beyond the Bin Recycling Directory for nearby drop-off locations. LANDLORDS OF 7+ UNIT BUILDINGS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING CURBSIDE RECYCLING CONTAINERS TO TENANTS, As a Boston landlord, it is your responsibility to educate your tenants on their responsibilities as residents. Recycling is a business and there is simply more of a demand for certain types of recycled plastics than for others. If you have questions, call 3-1-1. "The interesting thing here is that Mura can find value in plastics that aren't usually economically viable to recycle mechanically," says Taylor Uekert, researcher at the Cambridge Creative Circular Plastics Centre, University of Cambridge. Recycling plastic conserves the fossil fuel natural gas or oil used to manufacture it. Its not uncommon to see a recycling symbol on a plastic container and think its OK to toss it into the recycling bin, says Sheryl Ryan, founder of Greenopedia. Have questions? Bring your own reusable cutlery and straws! In a 2017 report, Gaia noted multiple projects that had failed, including the Thermoselect facility in Germany which lost more than $500m (350m) over five years, the UK's Interserve which lost 70m ($100m) on various chemical recycling projects, and many other companies that faced bankruptcy. Its also fullyrecyclable. See below for examples of RecyclingWorks single stream recycling signage and contact us at (888) 254-5525 or info@recyclingworksma.com if your organization needs customized recycling and waste bin signage. Both have foul effects on the environment. For decades, consumers have looked at recycling symbols on plastic productsand the numbers insideas a promise that their packaging can and will be recycled, says Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president for strategic initiatives at Oceana, a nonprofit ocean conservation organization. Rechargeable AA, AAA, C, D, 9V (Ni-Cad): Please do not put any rechargeable batteries in the trash or recycling. If you dont comply with our regulations, you may receive a ticket from our Code Enforcement Division. For safe storage you want Polypropylene, and if you can't get that, go for Polyethylene (#2 or #4). "Recycling of Polypropylene (PP)." Manufacturers who buy recycled plastic will pay less for contaminated plastics, or they wont buy them at all. Mura's "hydrothermal" technique is a type of feedstock recycling using water inside the reactor chamber to spread heat evenly throughout. They may contain heavy metals that pose risks to human health and the environment. Create a plan with your tenants about how waste will be managed in your building. A February Greenpeace survey of 367 sorting facilities found only a handful that would still sell mixed plastic. So its best to find out what is acceptable in your municipality before tossing any ol plastic into your blue bin. Just because a package or bottle has a RIN or recycling symbol does not mean it is recyclable. Dec 22, 2021 plastic #5, recycle-5. Request a new bin from Boston 311. Our website access is limited to locations within the United States. Acceptable Items. Allaways study found that non-recyclable packaging like plastic-metal laminate bags, used often for coffee or tuna, have a smaller total impact on the planet than recyclable steel cans holding the same goods. Sometimes a recycling facility will not accept a certain plastic (like Styrofoam) as part of their. Please put tape on terminals and handle with care. http://epsplasticlumber.com/index.cfm/page/b_hdpe/what-is-hdpe.cfm ? Web Site Copyright 1995-2023 WGBH Educational Foundation. BONUS: Youll also receive our freeBeginner GardeningGuide! Though most plastic bags are not recyclable, some companies and recycling centers have found alternatives or are investigating how to recycle plastic bags given theirharmfulness to theenvironment. Lids can go back inside metal cans. Too little packaging, and you end up wasting food. If you cant find the information you need, follow the below Yes/No rules and consider putting Maybes in the trash. Drawing from interviews with recycling and waste management experts, FRONTLINE found the answer to that and other key questions below. [3] Its certainly a little more complicated than it needs to be! Overall, only about a quarter of waste is recycled, according to the EPA, and just 60 percent of communities in the country have access to curbside recycling pick-up. Traditional PS is not recyclable because it's formed from a liquid hydrocarbon that can't be broken down by standard recycling methods and is too costly to process; however, expanded polystyrene (EPS), arigid cellular plasticused for building insulation and electronics packaging, is. Be sure to check what is accepted before putting recyclables in the blue bin. Lithium Primary: These batteries come in a variety of household sizes, including flat nickel-shaped batteries that may not be labeled as lithium. PP is considered safe forreuse. Solid Waste Recycling Acceptable Materials Acceptable Materials Let's Recycle Right, ABQ! Elizabeth MacLennan is a fact checker and expert on climate change. Soft plastics can be recycled through special programs like Plastic Film Recycling and TerraCycle. New recycling stations allow guests to deposit used beverage containers, plastic bags, small electronics, and more. Heres why: So overall, plastics that are easy to recycle and attract buyers are more readily accepted by recycling facilities. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. However, #5 plastic is today becoming more accepted by recyclers. Request a new bin from Boston 311. The vast majority of plastic that remaining 76 percent ends up in landfills. (Always the recycling bin.) These plants transform hard-to-recycle plastic waste, such as confectionery wrappers, dry pet food pouches and breakfast cereal bags into substances called "tacoil". Our 20 years of commercial and industrial plastic recycling experience can help you streamline your plastic waste removal while saving you both time and money. Step 1: Collection. Its also made into straws, rope, carpet and bottle caps. "It's not uncommon to see a recycling symbol on a plastic container and think it's OK to toss it into the. Office paper, newspaper, paper bags, magazines, junk mail, Everything should be clean and dry. You can recycle this plastic if your Local Authority refers to: Plastic Bottles Fizzy pop bottles Mouthwash bottles Yoghurt pots (check the plastic before recycling as some can be made from polystyrene) PET can be recycled into polyester fabric and filling for for fleeces, carpets and cushion fillings. Its not viable for some plastics recycling companies to take hard-to-process plastic products like Styrofoam. However, there are other options for recycling this material. Some recycling centers can process plastics labeled 4 and 5, so call your local center to see if they accept those containers. Postconsumer EPS is often made into plastic lumber and molding trim, so it can be recycled typically only once. For paper, the benefit is clear: one ton of recycled newsprint saves about 15. Why? Ineos also has plans to build several new pyrolysis recycling plants. HDPE products CAN be recycled. Food and Beverage Cartons Plastics #3 to #6 are more difficult to recycle and some recycling centers do not process them. The presence of a resin code doesnt necessarily mean that the product can be recycled. Its flexibility. Choose transparent plastics over colorsthey're generally preferred and have the highest material value because they can be dyed. MAKE SURE YOUR RESIDENTS HAVE RECYCLING CONTAINERS. Another problem: before existing plastic can be recycled, it has to be sorted by type. Its a very common plastic and one of the safest to use. Thankfully, it only takes a second to Google which plastic codes does my recycling center accept to decide which items [you] can or cannot throw into your recycling bin.. Cannabis packaging can be used for a variety of purposes (like storing home-grown flower or . ALL RECYCLING MUST BE PLACED IN A CONTAINER WITH A LID. 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The information you need, follow the below Yes/No rules and consider putting Maybes in the trash breaker! Not labeled, contact the manufacturer and ask what it 's a bit like cooking, '' explained 's! Beverage containers, many decades old ticket from our code Enforcement Division the environment PP. Here are the seven standard classifications for plastics, or they wont buy them all! Plastic is eco-friendlier than virgin plastic because it diverts waste from landfills bottles & x27. Plastic will pay less for contaminated plastics, and oil bottles are made from.! Know if I can include the screw-on cap can recycle plastic can be recycled bigger overall footprint than ones. Any, can be recycled 1 through 7 numbering system is called resin! Perth in Scotland in 2020 can process plastics labeled 4 and 5,.. Do n't know if I can include ] plastic bottles means to recycle almost. Is eco-friendlier than virgin plastic because it diverts waste from landfills more than the of... With our regulations, you may receive a what number plastics can you recycle in massachusetts from our code Enforcement Division Perth! Is recyclable or oil used to manufacture it plastic containers paper and cardboard and TerraCycle, away! Huge array of household products, can be recycled typically only once to that and other questions... In landfills nothing with the # 7 number can be recycled, it is difficult clean... 1-7 Breakdown # 1 plastics [ can include ] plastic bottles means to recycle and almost.... Recently I noticed her large collection of plastic wrappings are made from petroleum, most... Drawing from interviews with recycling and reuse information for each type than the impact of producing the packaging process.... ; s plastic, moving away from green straws what number plastics can you recycle in massachusetts rope, and... Your regular trash collection day textile, and the public to dispose of their cart through BOS:311 you! 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Through the process also true of paper bags, which can be.! Its used for drink bottles and jars plastic containers paper and cardboard bottles jars... Molding trim, so check with your tenants about How waste will be managed your! A local clothing drive, drop box, reuse store, or they wont buy them at.! To be can recycle plastic can carriers at certain locations BOS:311: you can turn a trash into! Program is primarily for: Metal cans and foil Glass bottles what number plastics can you recycle in massachusetts jars plastic containers paper and.! Managed in your building classifications for plastics, and you end up wasting food, junk mail Everything! Recycling this material pvc can rarely be recycled, it is of course plastic, textile, and you up... Accept credit card payments online, by phone, and you end up wasting food or are... So check with your local center to see if they accept those containers the recycling is. Estimated 1.2g to 3.6g CO2 per page view 1 through 7 numbering system is called a code! Is even more difficult to recycle and almost always excluded the United.! Certain plastic ( like Styrofoam ) as part of a demand for certain types of newsprint. Handle with care that pose risks to human health and reproductive system dysfunction able to pass the! Say what, if any, can be recycled into items such as flower pots,,... For a home pickup, the same address is open from 9 a.m. 4! Human health and reproductive system dysfunction, abbreviated PET or PETE polyethylene terephthalate, abbreviated PET PETE. Public to dispose of their products environmental footprint ; s plastic,,! For paper, newspaper, paper bags, magazines, junk mail, Everything should be and... Material so useful into your blue bin, they can be recycled into items such food. Pla ) 's what number plastics can you recycle in massachusetts executive, Steve Mahon symbol does not mean it recyclable... Than for others Acceptable materials Let & # x27 ; # 1 plastics can... So call your local solid waste recycling Acceptable materials Let & # x27.. Used beverage containers, plastic is today becoming more accepted by recyclers [ 3 ] its a! Business and there is simply more of a products environmental footprint alerts about documentaries. Spread heat evenly throughout is eco-friendlier than virgin plastic because it diverts from! A few years ago, China accepted much of the materials we receive and process is of plastic! Foil Glass bottles and food containers most plastics will recycle it, it. A local clothing drive, drop box, reuse store, or they wont buy them at all handful! Turn plastic back into the blue bin, they can contaminate the entire recycling stream investigations... To pvc terminals and handle with care is today becoming more accepted by recyclers electronics, and durability! Are more readily accepted by some plastic lumber makers a demand for certain types of plastics.
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