Plastics: Revisited

A little more info on plastics and recycling, courtesy of the Recyclenow.org website:


Plastic #1: Polyethylene Terephthalate (PETE)Common uses: 2 liter soda bottles, cooking oil bottles, peanut butter jars. This is the most widely recycled plastic and often has redemption value under the California "Bottle Bill."
Plastic #2: High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)Common uses: detergent bottles, milk jugs.
Plastic #3: Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)Common uses: plastic pipes, outdoor furniture, shrink wrap, water bottles, salad dressing and liquid detergent containers. Please note that plastic bags are not accepted for recycling curbside. However, Safeway Stores, Alberton's Food and Drug, Raley's, Ralphs Food Companies, and G&G Supermarkets accept plastic bags for recycling. Please remove food waste and receipts.
Plastic #4: Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)Common uses: dry cleaning bags, produce bags, trash can liners, food storage containers. Safeway Stores and Lucky Food Centers accept HDPE (#2) and LDPE (#4) plastic bags for recycling.
Plastic #5: Polypropylene (PP)Common uses: bottle caps, drinking straws. Recycling centers almost never take #5 plastic.
Plastic #6: Polystyrene (PS)Common uses: packaging pellets or "Styrofoam peanuts," cups, plastic tableware, meat trays, to-go "clam shell" containers. Many shipping/packaging stores will accept polystyrene peanuts and other packaging materials for reuse. Cups, meat trays, and other containers that have come in contact with food are more difficult to recycle. If you have large quantities call the Eco-Desk Hotline at 707-565-3375.
Plastic #7: OtherCommon uses: certain kinds of food containers and Tupperware. This plastic category, as its name of "other" implies, is any plastic other than the named #1-#6 plastic types. These containers can be any of the several different types of plastic polymers. Recycling centers cannot recycle plastic #7. Look for alternatives.

I looked around my kitchen and found a mix of several of these plastics. I was especially intrested to learn that my Starbucks waterbottle was a #7 plastic so when I am done with it, it'll just have to go to a landfill...

Waterbottle Wariness

There is a lot of hoopla out there about waterbottles for a variety of reasons. The cities of Portland, Or and Vancouver, Wa for example have banned waterbottles from city council meetings citing the wastefulness of it. They are not the only ones concerned about the amount of waste all of these 'single use' bottles create. The following information is from the Container Recycling Institute:

• Approximately 9 out of 10 waterbottles end up in landfills, never to be recycled ( 30 million bottles per day )
• The amount of petroleum product it takes to manufacture enough bottles to supply us with water is around 1.5 million barrels of oil per year. This is enough oil to generate electricity for 250,000 homes for one year, or enough fuel for 100,000 cars per year.
• 22 million tons of bottled water is shipped from the US to foreign countries per year

However, just making sure that you are recycling these bottles is not the complete answer. Over time, plastic looses it's flexibility and ability to be reproduced into another product. Heavy amounts of dyes and pigments ( like Dasani bottles ) make it difficult for the plastic to be recycled.The metals and chemicals added to plastic to make it stable are also dangerous for us.

So, if the best choice is to not purchase these bottles to begin with, what are we supposed to do? Purchase softer plastic, glass or metal waterbottles. Look for bottles that do not smell 'plastic-y' and are not made of PET ( it will be stamped on the bottom of the bottle ). These bottles are potentially dangerous for children, pregnant and nursing moms and those with developing endocrine systems. Some research even links this chemical ( along with bisphenol -A BPA as you may have seen it ) to breast cancer and chromasomal deficiencies in human eggs ( research published in the 4/2003 issue of Current Biology ). Also look for the label on the bottom of the bottle denoting the type of plastic it is made of. Preferable labels are #2 HDPE and #4 LDPE for recycling purposes and to avoid leaching of chemicals. These plastics tend to be the cloudier kind...think milk jugs and Sunny D containers.

All in all, if you are going to carry a waterbottle, be sure to use a good plastic and wash it everyday ( by hand is best ) to avoid the potential downfalls of portable beverages.

A Simple First Change

The first simple change I recommend making is buying some reuseable grocery bags. Did you know that it can take over 1,000 years for a plastic bag to biodegrade, and 97% of plastic bags end up in landfills? Paper is a better option than plastic because it will biodegrade faster, but it takes 1.4 trees to make 1000 bags. All of that is not even taking into consideration the amount of energy and fuel to make these products ( only for us to throw them away ). I purchased 4 bags from Fred Meyer for 99 cents each. They are a recycleable material so that when they do break down I can dispose of them properly. They are larger than you would think, too. I can fit into these four bags what I used to use about 7-9 plastic bags. Eventually they will pay for themselves at the checkout stand because I get 5 cents off of my bill for each bag used. If you are not using reuseable bags already, I highly recommend getting some. Next on my list of purchases is a produce bag so that I will not have to use the plastic bags in the produce section.