What Will Happen if You Do Not Recycle Plastic

It is important to understand what happens to old plastic in order to understand what will happen if you do not recycle plastic.

Low Rate of Plastic Recycling

The recycling of plastics is growing along with the recycling statistics of glass and paper; however, only a small percentage of all plastics is recycled. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that only 6.8 percent of all plastics were recycled in 2007 as compared to the 50 percent of all paper which was recycled.

The reasons for this low rate of recycling tend to center around the inability to recycle all types of plastic in community recycling programs. For example:

Not all types of plastics are accepted by community recycling programs
Plastic bags are typically not accepted in recycling programs

Community Recycling

According to the American Plastics Council (APC), about half of all communities in the United States have recycling programs for plastics. Each community determines the type of program they want to support and the types of materials they want to recycle. Some communities have curbside recycling while other communities require their citizens to bring their recyclables to drop-off recycling points within the community. Some communities accept all types of materials for recycling while others limit the types of plastics they accept.

Some recycling programs only accept plastic bottles made from PET or HDPE, leaving the other plastic items to be tossed into the garbage. This limited acceptance causes some types of plastics to record higher rates of recycling than the average 6.8 percent of plastics which are recycled. For example:

PET soft drink bottles - 37 percent were recycled
HDPE milk and large water bottles - 28 percent were recycled
Individual water bottles - 23 percent were recycled

Plastic Bags

Most communities do not accept plastic bags in their curbside or drop-off recycling programs. Of the billion plastic bags given out each day, only 1 to 3 percent are being recycled. Some states are considering a usage tax to be charged to the consumer with each plastic bag as a way to minimize the number of plastic bags used by consumers. The consumer could avoid the usage tax by providing their own shopping bags.

Understanding What Will Happen If You Do Not Recycle Plastic

When plastic is not recycled it ends up in the landfill with garbage or becomes waste in the environment. Without recycling, this "wasted" plastic cannot be reworked and reused. Instead, "new" plastic must be made, requiring the use of natural resources.

Landfills

Plastics are a fast growing part of the municipal solid waste in the United States. The APC reports that in 1960 plastic contributed less than one percent of the municipal waste. By 2007 almost 31 million tons of plastic became municipal waste, representing about 12 percent of the waste in landfills.

Much of the plastic in landfills is unrecycled plastic bottles and bags. About 38 billion water bottles end up in landfills each year along with billions of plastic bags. It is estimated that it will take up to 1000 years for a plastic bottle or bag to decompose after it is buried in a landfill.

Litter

Unrecycled plastics often end up as litter, causing increased costs to clean up and dispose of properly. Besides being an eyesore, plastic bags can also be a hazard to the health of animals. Discarded plastic bags frequently end up being the cause of death each year of hundreds of thousands of sea turtles, whales, cows and goats who eat the bags mistaking them for food.

Use of Natural Resources

If a plastic item is thrown away it cannot be reused or remade into another plastic item. The base plastic in the item becomes a total waste. Raw materials, manufacturing, natural resources such as water and energy must be used to create new plastics. If the plastic item had been recycled, the base plastic can be reused to create a new plastic item, frequently using less natural resources in the manufacturing process.

Additional Information on Recycling Plastic

LoveToKnow Green Living and other Internet sources have additional information to help you further understand what will happen if you do not recycle plastic. Resources are available to: