Reuse

2. Reuse • Drink containers • Ziploc bags • Tupperware • Plastic grocery bags

3. Reduce • Packaging • Diapers • Grocery Bags • Lunch bags • Make products last longer • Precycling – do I really need this?

4. Recycle • Primary • Closed loop • Creates products of the same type • Secondary • Open loop • Converted into new products http://www.recyclebank.com/recycling

5. Compost • Rich in organic matter and soil nutrients • Microorganisms break down waste

6. MRFs materials recovery facility • Separates trash from materials that can be recycled • Recycles or burns remaining combustible waste • Problems: • Expensive • Energy to separate trash • Must have large input of garbage • Toxic pollutants http://www.recyclebank.com/recycling

7. Source separation • Separate trash from recyclables at home or business • Advantages: • Little pollution • Moderate operating costs and more jobs • Less energy • Problems: • Rely on people to correctly separate • Hard to compete with MRFs

8. Plastics

9. Versatility • Flexible or rigid; transparent or opaque. • Look like leather, wood, or silk. • Made into toys or heart valves. • The basic raw materials for plastic are petroleum and/or natural gas. • These fossil fuels are sometimes combined with other elements, such as oxygen or chlorine, to make different types of plastic.

10. What to do with my soda bottle? • Throw it in the trash (Landfill) • Recycle it and reuse it! • Incinerate it for energy

11. 1 PET  Polyethylene Terephthalate • Two-liter beverage bottles, mouthwash bottles, boil-in-bag pouches.

12. 2 HDPE  High Density Polyethylene • Milk jugs, trash bags, detergent bottles.

13. 3 PVC Polyvinyl Chloride • Cooking oil bottles, packaging around meat • Burning PVC plastic, which contains 57% chlorine when pure, forms dioxins, a highly toxic group of chemicals that build up in the food chain.

14. 4 LDPE  Low Density Polyethylene • Grocery bags, produce bags, food wrap, bread bags

15. 5 PP  Polypropylene • Yogurt containers, shampoo bottles, straws, margarine tubs, diapers.

16. 6 PS  Polystyrene  • Hot beverage cups, take-home boxes, egg cartons, meat trays, cd cases.

17. 7 Other • All other types of plastics or packaging made from more than one type of plastic.

18. Not Economical • In recent years, several plastics recycling companies have closed their doors. • They claimed they could not sell their products at a price that would allow them to stay in business. • Thanks to the relatively low cost of petroleum, the price of virgin plastic is so inexpensive that recycled plastic cannot compete. • The price of virgin resin is about 40 percent lower than that of recycled resin.

19. Paper or Plastic? 20-40% less E to manufacture plastic 1 truckload of plastic = 7 truckloads of paper

20. Plastic Energy! • Stored energy - made from fossil fuels. • Contain as much energy as petroleum or natural gas • much more energy than other types of garbage. • an ideal fuel for waste-to-energy plants.

21. Because recycled plastic is more expensive, people aren’t exactly lining up to buy it. Surveys conducted by Procter & Gamble and others show that while most people expect their plastic to be recycled, they won’t go out of their way or pay a few cents more to buy a bottle made of recycled plastic. Recyclers say plastics recycling won’t be profitable until we close the loop by creating more demand for recycled plastics.