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plastic recycling facts


The Communities

  • In 2005, 8,550 curbside programs existed in the United States. Curbside recycling was available to 139,026,000 persons, about 48% of the United States population.  As of 2005, 504 materials recovery facilities were processing 50,180 tons per day of recyclable collected materials (so called ‘clean MRF’s’) and 46 mixed waste processing plants (so called ‘dirty MRF’s’) processed about 25,000 tons of mixed waste daily.  Source: Municipal Solid Waste in the United States, 2005 Facts and Figures, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
  • More than 20,000 communities, 63 percent of the nation's total, are estimated to have access to a community recycling program (curbside and drop-off) that collects plastics.
  • Almost all major urban areas in the U.S. have recycling collection programs resulting in approximately 60 percent of the U.S. population (over 148 million people) having convenient access to a plastics recycling collection program.
  • PET bottles (soda, water) and HDPE bottles (milk, laundry detergent) are by far the most commonly collected plastic materials in community recycling programs.
  • 10% of all households have the ability to recycle all plastic bottles (resin identification codes #1 through #7) in their community. Source: APC's 1998 Community Survey, R.W. Beck, Inc., November, 1998.

Plastics in Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

  • All plastic products accounted for 11.8% of USA municipal solid waste generation by weight in 2005. Plastics share of USA solid waste is similar to that for food waste or ‘metals and glass’ or yard waste or ‘wood, rubber, leather, and textiles’ and far less than paper, the major component of municipal solid waste. 
  • Durable plastic items, such as appliances, accounted for 3.5% by weight of the municipal solid waste stream in 2005.  Non-durable plastic items contributed 2.7% to the solid waste stream.  Plastic packaging accounted for 5.5% of all municipal solid waste generated in 2005. Source: Municipal Solid Waste in the United States, 2005 Facts and Figures, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The Recycling Infrastructure

  • The plastics recycling infrastructure includes 2015 companies; 1,677 processing post-consumer plastics, 207 processing post-industrial plastics and 131 brokers and exporters.
  • The number of processing facilities in the post-consumer plastics recycling industry has grown by 81 percent, from 923 facilities in 1990 to 1,677 facilities from 1990 to 1999.
  • Of the 1,677 post-consumer plastics recycling facilities, 1,295 facilities are consolidation facilities (primarily sort and bale) while 382 facilities are reprocessors (grind, wash, pelletize).
  • Of the 382 post-consumer plastic reclamation facilities, 265 facilities are vertically integrated into product manufacturing.
    • The Midwestern U.S. has the highest concentration of plastics recycling facilities with 593, followed closely by the Southern U.S. with 415.
  • PET and HDPE plastic bottles are the most common materials handled at facilities recycling post-consumer plastics.
  • There are 74 post-consumer plastics recycling companies that focus on plastic bottle recycling. Twenty of these companies recycle PET bottles and fifty-eight companies recycle HDPE bottles. Four of the companies process both resins.
  • The U.S. plastics recycling industry employs more than 53,000 persons. Source: Summer 1999 Plastics Recycling Markets Database, R.W. Beck, Inc., September, 1999.

Recycling Quantities and Rates

  • Over 2.1 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic bottles were recycled during 2005, accounting for 24 percent (by weight) of all plastic bottles produced in the United States.
  • Post-consumer plastic bottle recycling has increased dramatically over the last 16 years, from 234 million pounds in 1989 to over 2.1 billion pounds in 2005.
  • 96% of all plastic bottles in the United States market are manufactured from PET or HDPE (57% and 39% respectively).
  • HDPE and PET bottles showed the highest recycling rates of any plastic bottles types, at 27.1 and 23.1 percent respectively.
  • Domestic capacity to reclaim PET and HDPE plastic bottles exceeds recycled quantities, stressing the need to reinvigorate community collection programs. Source: ACC's 2005 National Post-Consumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Study, R.W. Beck, Inc. 2006.

Markets for Recycled Plastics

  • 54% of recycled PET finds a market in the manufacture of fiber (carpet and clothing).
  • Other large markets for recycled PET are strapping (15%) and new containers (21%, for food and non-food).
  • 43% of recycled HDPE bottles go into making new bottles.
  • The plastic pipe industry consumes 22% of the recycled HDPE.
  • Other strong markets for HDPE are for lawn and garden products (such as edging), plastic lumber (decks, benches, picnic tables), film and sheet, and a variety of injection molding products (buckets, crates and automobile parts). Source: ACC's 2005 National Post-Consumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Study, R.W. Beck, Inc. 2006 and NAPCOR’s 2005 Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity, 2006.

*Recycling does not exist in all areas. Check to see if there is a recycling facility in your community.