According to the EPA, plastics make up more than 12 percent of the municipal solid waste stream, “a dramatic increase from 1960, when plastics were less than one percent of the waste stream.” US residents are buying more plastic, and only about 8 percent of it gets recycled. The plastics industry rarely uses recycled plastics in the vast majority of their products, unlike the glass and metal industries. The recycling arrows stamped on plastic products and the cities that collect every type of plastic via their recycling programs lead people to believe that all plastic products are recyclable and being recycled, and that’s simply not true. Non-recyclable plastics are separated and landfilled.

The Ecology Center currently picks up clean, rigid plastic containers, but we encourage people to avoid buying plastics whenever possible, since most plastics are not recyclable in the same way that glass, metals, and fibers are. Plastics are typically turned into only one other product, which must be landfilled at the end of its life. As the plastics recycling infrastructure develops and viable new plastics markets emerge, the Ecology Center will evaluate the collection of other plastics, based on operational, cost, and environmental concerns.