That's not true. #1 PET has the highest value as a scrap commodity due to the bottles being reusable as a food grade plastic, which is something no other plastic.
2 HDPE can be used in a durable and non durable uses and HDPE "natural" sells for even more because its translucent and it's MFI.
3 PVC, well the "C" stands for chlorine and most recycling processes will involve an element of heat that turns it into a gas... A very dangerous gas...
4 LDPE can be recycled back into film and stretch applications, but colouring can be difficult
5 PP can be recycled into injection grade resin
6 PS is generally made into EPS which is a c**t to transport because it's mostly air and the beads easily sock food residue in waste streams
7 can be any other kind of plastic and shows the flaws in the resin code system.
The economics can make sense especially with epr laws and content minimums. Also worth noting, colour matching is extremely difficult for pcr (post consumer resins) and brand owners don't want the packaging to be a non-specified recognised colour (kinda fucked).
Not all plastics can be recycled but certainly more than just two resins can, and we absolutely need to stop make non-essential plastic products, because we're not far away from mining landfills for material
That's like saying many (if not most) “farmers” won’t bother with crops other than wheat and corn.
Most recyclers process a few select commodities where they have a competitive edge, which leads to a larger system flaw of shipping sorted plastics across the continent.
If you want more things to be recycled you should preach the "golden design rules", because as others have said most things can be recycled a lot is designed knowing it can't or won't be.
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u/Minnow2theRescue Oct 24 '24
NO ONE in any position of power will admit that only #1 and #2 plastics can be recycled.