One day in my office, we received a new recycling bin. It has one side for aluminum cans and the other side simply said “plastics.” I can’t remember what it was, but my boss wanted to toss something in the plastic side when our business manager said, “No, you can’t do that” and explained whatever he had that was plastic couldn’t be recycled with things like water bottles. His argument was the bin only said “plastics,” which rather makes sense. How do you know what plastics to recycle?
You have to go by the numbers. If you look on the bottom of a plastic bottle, it should have the triangular recycle logo along with a number. If it has #1 on it, that made of polyethylene terephthanalate, or PET for short. You usually find this number on juice, soda, and water bottles and it is usually a clear plastic. When recycled, these plastics usually go right back to what they were before – juice, soda, and water bottles. The PET plastics are recycled by compressing, shredding, and making flakes that are then used to make new bottles.
If your plastic item has #2 on it, it is high-density polyethylene. This is what you often see with milk jugs, plastic bags, and folding chairs. It is a soft plastic that is usually recycled to make more plastic bags (as if we need more), bottles, and oddly enough, recycling bins.
If you run across a plastic item that has the numbers 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7, they can be recycled, but they must be separate from the #1s and #2s. This is because these plastics – things like packing peanuts, cafeteria trays, plastic lumber, and shower curtains – may be harmful to consume, so they cannot be mixed in with things that will be recycled into water bottles and milk jugs. Sometimes your curbside recycling people will not take these plastics, but call your local recycling center to see if they will take them.
Just remember that if you have something plastic that you use for a glass, baby bottle, or plate and it says 3 or 7, it may be made with BPA and you may want to get rid of it, just to be safe.