Recycling 101: Plastics

Is recycling real?

This seems really complicated….why do we sort our stuff out? Does it really matter?

What is the deal with all the different numbers on plastics? What do they mean?

These are just a few of the questions that continually circle around the Recycling Center and the general conversation about recycling. And it can seem really complicated because, well, parts of it are more nuanced. But that doesn’t mean it is too complicated to have a general knowledge of how the process works. Check out this short video to get an overview on the process.

We’re written about how recycling plastics in our community works before in our Less Waste for the Holidays series. We are fortunate here in Cobb County to be part of the Hefty Renew Program that allows us to reduce the amount of trash that goes to our landfills.

Resin ID Codes

My general challenge with Resin Identification Codes is that they are so small that my aging eyes struggle to read but the do make sense if you know what the numbers mean. Think of a Resin Identification number as an indicator to just how often this is recycled combined with how flexible the plastic is. So your drink bottles (01) and hard clear food packaging isn’t as flexible (if you try and bend it) but the plastic lids to food containers are often very bendable (05.) The Polystyrenes (a.k.a. styrofoam) are for packing and are heat resistant (06.) Check out this chart below to get a full spectrum of the kinds of plastic we generally find on our shelves.

One-third of all plastic beverage containers recycled in North America end up in Georgia and are turned into carpet (mainly in northwest Georgia). – https://georgia.org/center-of-innovation/recycling-and-sustainability