Improving Sorting: Overview on The 7 Types of Plastics
- Jul 23, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 28, 2021
Executive Summary
Understanding the different types of recyclable plastics and their challenges is key to better sort your plastic waste and overall reduce the amount of plastics sent to landfills.
In the next 2 articles, we will talk about Plastic Waste management. First, you will learn about the global challenges of plastics worldwide, the different types of plastics and understand what happens to the plastic items we tend to buy, use and discard. In the second article, we will focus on what happens in Hong Kong with regards to Plastic Waste management. What are the challenges, what you can do to help tackle this issue and learn about fantastic local initiatives!
Worldwide Key Facts on Plastics
Of the 8.3bn tonnes of virgin plastic produced worldwide, only 9% has been recycled.
By use, packaging of goods constitutes the greatest volume of usage of plastic products at around 141 million tons.
91% of plastic packaging waste is sent to landfills and/or in the environment.
The amount of plastic manufactured in the first ten years of this century will reach the total produced in the entire last century alone.
Plastic accounts for 50%-80% of the waste littering beaches, oceans, and seabeds.
Since China prohibited 24 types of waste from entering the country in 2018 with its National Sword policy, the price of plastics has plummeted to the extent that it isn’t worth recycling.
What usually Happens to Plastics?
The majority of plastic materials are non-biodegradable. After being recycled, it is purified and melted down. It can be used to create new products, rather than sitting in a landfill and harming the environment. You can recycle any plastics that have the universal recycling symbol on them.
Plastics labeled #1, #2, #4, #5 and #6 are recyclable (see next section!). Only plastics labeled #1 and #2 are easily recycled and only a small fraction of those plastics are actually getting recycled.
Plastic Deficiency
Many people assume that plastic, like glass or paper, can be recycled over and over again forever without losing any quality. The truth is that plastic declines in value and strength every time it is recycled, until it is eventually rendered useless for recycling. After that, in most cases, it winds up in a landfill, where it slowly breaks down into microplastics and emits methane.
Plastic Mismanagement
Plastic recycling suffers also from many countries lacking the facility or initiative to recycle plastics, causing plastic waste to be dumped in improper receptacles.
As mentioned in an article from the National Geographic, “direct dumping contributes a significant portion of plastic litter in rivers. Rainwater ushers mismanaged waste from land into local waterways, which feed into larger tributaries and rivers, which in turn empty into oceans. In this way, plastic from far inland can travel many miles to the coastline.”
The gravity of the problem of mismanaged plastics lies in the fact that they can persist for several decades as you can see in the figures below provided by WWF.
Plastics You Can Recycle
Do you know the difference between a type 4 and type 7 plastic? There are 7 different categories of plastic that specify the different chemical compositions- called the resin- and as a result, its level of harmfulness to the environment.
#1, 2, 4, 5 & 6 can be recycled.
#3 (PVC or Vinyl, commonly used for building and construction and medical applications). PVC is the most dangerous plastic to human health, known to leach dangerous toxins throughout its entire lifecycle (eg: lead, dioxins, vinyl chloride).
#7 (the infamous “other” option!) combination of multiple types, commonly used for eyeglasses, baby and sports bottles, electronics, CD/DVDs, lighting fixtures and clear plastic cutlery.
Spotlighting Local Initiatives
Remarkable local NGOs are active in Hong Kong, launching initiatives, partnering in order to tackle the plastic waste challenge. We invite you to register for their actions!
V Cycle
V Cycle is tackling Hong Kong’s environmental issues on two levels; ecological and social. By coupling them, we can empower the underprivileged and protect the natural world.
V Cycle offers:
Volunteering to sort the plastic at V Cycle sorting station
Create and manufacture recycled and recyclable products
Fund community programs to enhance the lives of impoverished elderly and disadvantaged young people
In the next article, we will focus on Plastic Waste Management in Hong Kong. You will learn about some of its common challenges, what you can do in this context and learn about some fantastic local initiatives to tackle this problem!
Comments