News Release

Plastic Bottle Recycling Reaches Record High of More than 2 Billion Pounds Annually

ARLINGTON, VA (February 5, 2007) – Plastic bottle recycling by consumers increased 187 million pounds in 2005, crossing the 2-billion-pound threshold, to reach a record high of more than 2.1 billion pounds for the year, according to figures released jointly today by the Plastics Division of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR).

The 16th annual Post-Consumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Report also found that the increase in recycling continued the historical trend of more pounds collected each year since the industry survey began in 1990.

Report highlights were:

• Pounds of HDPE bottles collected for recycling increased by almost 20 million for the year.
• The HDPE bottle recycling rate rose to 27.1%, a 1.2% increase from 2004.
• Exports of collected HDPE bottles for recycling overseas were 162.4 million pounds, or nearly 18% of recycled pounds.
• Polypropylene recycling increased 4.1 million pounds to reach 10.1 million pounds recovered during the year.

The report cited the following as having contributed to the 2005 increase in recycling:

• Recycled plastic bales maintained their value, resulting in more careful extraction of material by handlers working to optimize financial returns.
• Single stream curbside recycling grew as the haulers’ preferred collection method. Single stream typically results in increased participation due to its simplicity for consumers resulting in more bottles recycled.
• Several new communities switched to All Plastic Bottles curbside collection programs, which ask consumers to put all types of plastic bottles into their recycling bins. Compared with programs that only accept bottles labeled as 1s and 2s, All Plastic Bottle programs simplify decisions for consumers, often resulting in more bottles being collected for recycling.

The full 2005 report is available on ACC’s (www.plasticsresource.com) and APR’s (www.plasticsrecycling.org) websites.

“ACC is pleased to continue the publication of this valuable resource,” said Bruce Kuiken, managing director of ACC’s Plastics Division.  “Many companies in the plastics packaging industry and especially the recycling industry use ACC’s plastics recycling data to help them with business planning.” 

“Over the years, this information has helped to show how plastics recycling has grown, and, today, there’s also an important energy message. Thinking beyond just bottles, all of the plastic packaging manufactured in the U.S. each year accounts for only about 1.4% of U.S. fossil fuel use.  Recycling can help to recover or reuse that valuable energy for creating useful products or providing ‘waste to energy’ fuel,” Kuiken said.

“APR is delighted to partner with ACC on this important survey and report,” said Bill O’Grady, vice president of Talco Plastics and chairman of APR. The recycling information and analysis are of great importance to the plastics bottle recycling industry,” O’Grady added, noting that in addition to tracking the progress of efforts to recycle, the report underscores opportunities for even greater participation among consumers.

Highlights in the area of markets for the recycled HDPE in 2005 were:

• Natural HDPE’s primary market continued to be new polyethylene bottles for non-food applications (e.g., detergent, motor oil, and household cleaners).
• Pigmented HDPE fed strong demand for the production of polyethylene pipe and a wide range of lawn and garden products such as edging, flower and shrub pots, etc.
• Plastic lumber consumed a broad range of raw materials (e.g., recycled bottles, film and mixed rigid containers, plus wide-spec virgin resin) due to its diverse nature and continued as a strong market in 2005.

Data on PET recycling referenced in the report was separately funded and published by APR and the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR).  A separate report, entitled 2005 Report on Post-Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity, is available on APR’s website.

The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) is the national trade association representing companies who acquire, reprocess and sell the output of more than 90 percent of the post-consumer plastic processing capacity in North America. Founded in 1992, its membership includes independent recycling companies of all sizes, processing numerous resins. APR strongly advocates the recycling of all post consumer plastic packaging. http://www.plasticsrecycling.org