How do I recycle plastics correctly?

How should you recycle plastics? It's a bit complicated but in this article we've tried to make it easy for you. The first priorities should be refuse, reduce and reuse, but recycling also plays an important role in reducing pollution and laying the foundation for a more sustainable world.

Why recycling plastics is not enough?

Simply recycling plastics does not make up for the environmental damage done when the resource is extracted, the the plastic manufactured and the final product is transported to the consumer. Read more about plastic vs glass vs other beverage containers. Therefore we should all try to minimise the amount of plastics we use. For example use resealable glass containers to store and heat food, a stainless "to-go" coffee cup instead of single-use plastics, and for water bottles a high quality reusable bottle. But reducing plastic to zero is almost impossible.

So how does plastic recycling work?

Here's a guide for you on the best and worst materials and how to recycle plastics.

The main plastics to avoid

These plastic can generally not be recycled and should therefore be avoided.

• PVC - Plastic 3: PVC or polyvinyl chloride, is commonly considered the most damaging of all plastics. It releases carcinogenic dioxins into the environment when manufactured or incinerated and can leach phthalates with use.
• PS - Plastic 6: Foam or polystyrene cups and "to go" boxes as well as some clear cups and containers.
• PC - Plastic 7: Or polycarbonate. Can potentially leach bisphenol-A, a known hormone disruptor.

Safer plastics to use

These plastics are easier to recycle and should therefore be preferred:

• PETE - Plastic 1: Polyethylene terephthalate is considered among the safest plastics, though some studies do indicate that repeated use of the same PETE bottle or container could cause leaching of DEHP (di-phthalate).
• HDPE - Plastic 2: Used in some reusable sport bottles, which are much better than the #7.
• LDPE - Plastic 4 and 5: Low-density polyethylene and polypropylene are considered reasonable safe.
• PLA - Confusingly also called #7: Safe, biodegradable, compostable (not recyclable) plastic made from plants. Make sure it's certified by BPI (Biodegradable Products Institute) before composting. Note: Also read our guide about the complexities of PLA and other biodegradable and compostable plastics.

Another way of categorising plastics

• HDPE - Opaque bottles
• PVC - Transparent bottles, with seam running across the base
• PET - Transparent bottles, with a hard moulded spot in the centre of the base
• ABS - Typically plastic toys, kitchenware and other more resistant plastics

All of the above are theoretically recyclable with plastic except PLA. Unfortunately few end up being effectively recycled since generally plastic recipients are made up of a mix of plastics of different densities. The mixed plastics make them complicated and more costly to repurpose. In many cities, recycling plants don't even have the machines that are necessary to recycle all the different types of plastic that we throw in the recycling containers. Therefore they specialize and only handle the one or two most common ones and easier to recycle (i.e. PET). If you want lo learn more about how to identify the type of plastic a water bottle has been made of, the potential chemicals that it could be leaching to the water and how to recycle it, check out this article.

How to separate / sort plastics

What happens with our waste when we separate it into different containers for garbage collection or in recycle containers? The best type of recycling is Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs), which collect plastics for recycling. These exist almost everywhere in Germany and Scandinavia and the reach is growing in e.g. the U.K. Putting the plastic in the recycling bin or plastic collection points doesn't necessarily mean that it actually gets recycled:

• The bottle must be clean to be recycled.
• It must be easy to identify what kind of plastic it is. If it's not clear as with most biodegradable plastics then it goes to the landfill or incineration plant.
• Much of the plastic still ends up in landfills and incinerated due to poor sorting or demand for waste that can be burned for energy.

In summary

Recycling is not a long term solution to plastic pollution and waste. We need to reduce the amount of plastic we use and throw away. But plastic is still a great material and therefore we need to make sure we reuse or recycle the plastic we do use. Don't give up recycling even if it's a bit complicated. Because if we don't recycle, more plastic will definitely end up in landfills, groundwater, rivers and the oceans. So, recycle plastics that you can’t avoid, but make sure you do it right.