Some things work like a dream. Your household blue recycling cart, for example, —you put your recyclables in it, wheel it to the curb, and it gets picked up weekly. That routine translated into 6,365 tons of material recycled in Berkeley last year. Each Berkeley resident did their part to divert 6,365 tons of cardboard/paper, aluminum, glass, and some plastic from going to landfill.
Household recycling is one of the most accessible and widespread ways to conserve natural resources. This includes not only avoiding pulling more virgin resources from the earth, but it also conserves energy and water, and avoids carbon emissions, all of which would have been expended to extract those virgin resources for practical uses.
Plastic recycling, however, disrupts the dream. Unlike aluminum or cardboard, you can’t just throw all of your used plastic in your blue recycling bin and be confident that it’s recyclable, no matter what the chasing arrow symbol indicates. That’s why one community member asked, “Which of the types of plastics that I put in my blue bin, are actually recycled? “
The simple answer for Berkeley residents is that narrow-necked plastic bottles and jugs marked with chasing arrows no. 1 and no. 2 are currently recycled. Plastic no. 1 is polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE), and plastic no. 2 is high-density polyethylene (HDPE). All the other types of plastics are landfilled, except compostable plastic which you can put in your green bin and is composted. This means that for Berkeley residents, plastic no. 3 through no. 7, as well as plastic film such as plastic bags, are sent to landfill and are not recycled.
Although plastic may be marked with a chasing arrow to signify that it can be recycled, the actual determination for whether or not that plastic gets recycled depends on whether or not it is economically viable. If there is no buyer for that plastic or if the cost to send the material to a buyer exceeds the materials’ value, it’s not recycled and instead goes to landfill.
Additionally, it’s good to keep in mind that “Unlike glass and metal, plastic cannot be repeatedly recycled without quickly degrading in quality.”¹ This means that used plastic is typically down-cycled into durable products like plastic lumber, carpet, and polyester clothing.
On top of the practical limitations of recycling plastic, there are also precautions to keep in mind for the safe use of plastic, including no. 1 and no. 2. All plastics leach chemicals², especially when heated or scratched. So definitely avoid microwaving plastic containers, and don’t drink bottled water if the plastic bottle was left out in the sun.
The topic of plastic toxicity is vast and could use its own full-length feature—and there are plenty already around, including Plastic People—The Hidden Crisis of Microplastics documentary, released on March 9, 2024. There are plenty of recent news articles as well:
“Here’s the real concern when it comes to black plastic,” The Washington Post, February 24, 2025
“Researchers warn you might not want to reuse plastic food packaging,” NPR, December 6, 2024
“Hazardous chemicals in food packaging can also be found in people,” NPR, September 21, 2024
Equally pervasive and well-documented is the problem of plastic waste. Recent California legislation attempts to mitigate this problem. One breakthrough legislation, SB54, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, shifts the plastic pollution burden from consumers to producers by requiring producers to ensure that 100% of the packaging and plastic food ware sold in California is recyclable or compostable. The law also requires that 65% of single-use plastic packaging and food ware are recycled and 25% less is sold.
Ecology Center supported the passage of this bill through grassroots organizing, providing comments at public hearings where the legislation was debated, and collaborating with organizations like the Environmental Justice Communities Against Plastics (EJCAP). The full implementation of this bill in 2032 would represent a substantial shift toward a circular economy that will benefit all of us in the long run.
But we must stay vigilant. The first part of this bill to go into effect is a ban on polystyrene foodware. While Berkeley banned this stuff in 1988, and over 100 other local jurisdictions have followed suit, the rest of the state is still using it despite its known harm to human health and the environment. This is the first big test. We need to encourage our Governor to hold fast against ever-increasing industry pressure to backslide.
The rulemaking on SB54 has been ongoing, but on March 8, 2025, CalRecycle finalized its regulations despite last-ditch industry efforts to erode and delay the process. We are so proud that our new State Senator Jessie Arreguin, signed onto a letter from the legislature to the governor to these ends.
For now, you can be assured that if you are a Berkeley resident, your curbside recycler, the Ecology Center, does recycle plastic bottles and jugs, marked with the chasing arrows no. 1 and no. 2. Better yet, reduce your use of these by using a refillable water bottle and coming to the refill station at our store for body products and household cleaning products. Rather than wishing you could recycle a toothpaste tube, try our chewable toothpaste tablets! Ecology Center members get an additional discount on store products, of course!
¹ Top 25 recycling facts and statistics for 2022 https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/06/recycling-global-statistics-facts-plastic-paper/
²Plastic Products Leach Chemicals That Induce In Vitro Toxicity under Realistic Use Conditions, National Library of Medicine
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8427741/
