Polymers They're Everywhere -- Recycling Polymers

Recycling gives new life to the things we use. It can conserve valuable resources: landfill space, energy, raw materials. But recycling also takes effort. One place to start is looking at the recycling codes on different packages. The numbers and letters by the triangle will help you sort your plastics for recycling.
You need to get your trash to the recycling center as well. Perhaps your community offers curbside recycling. If not, maybe you can help set up a recycling center near you.

Before: Peanut butter jar
After: Tote bag, Hiking shoes, Sweatshirt
PETE (or PET) is used to make bottles for soft drinks, salad dressings, and mouthwash, as well as jars for peanut butter. Drinks won't leak through it, and neither will the gas that makes soda fizzy. PETE can be recycled into new bottles and containers, carpet, backpacks, clothing, and more.

Before: Milk jug
After: Doghouse, Park bench, Picnic table, Fence
You've seen tough, milk-white HDPE in plastic bottles that contain milk, juice, and water. Recycled HDPE appears in everything from pens and drainage pipes to park benches and doghouses.

Before: Sandwich box
After: Flying disk, Playground equipment
You've probably sat on vinyl car seats, looked through vinyl-framed windows, and seen houses covered with vinyl siding. This versatile polymer can be flexible or stiff-and clear. Recycled vinyl can become playground equipment and the protective bubble wrap that's so much fun to pop.

Before: Bread bag
After: Trash can, Landscape "timber"
Most of the plastic bags you get at the grocery or dry cleaner are made from LDPE. It gets recycled into all sorts of things such as trash bags, trash cans, and compost bins.

Before: Medicine bottle
After: Landscape border
Polypropylene is strong but light, so it's used to make auto parts, as well as many kinds of packaging. You might have worn polypropylene, too, since it's used to make underwear and other attire. Recycled polypropylene becomes brushes and brooms, ice scrapers, car battery cables, and more.

Before: Foam cup
After: Insulated jacket, Concrete
Polystyrene can be clear and hard (the way you've seen it in plastic drinking "glasses" and compact disk cases). It can also be foamed-converted into the compressible material used in foam cups, coolers, and packaging peanuts. Recycled polystyrene finds its way into egg cartons, concrete, and insulation.