As efforts are made toward establishing a circular economy that engages in activities that maintain resources at their highest values for as long as possible, an important aspect is understanding the systems which allow recycling to occur. In this article a common plastic, polyethylene terephthalate, i.e., PET or plastic #1, has been studied because it is recycled at relatively high rates in the U.S. as compared to other plastics. A material flow analysis is described for PET resin showing materials collected, reclaimed for flake, and converted into items with recycled content. Imports/exports, reclaimer residue, and disposal with mismanaged waste are all shown for U.S. flows of PET. Barriers to recycling PET exist in the collecting, sorting, reclaiming, and converting steps, and this article describes them, offers some solutions, and suggests some research that chemists and engineers could focus on to improve the systems. This effort also models sorting at material recovery facilities (MRF) and reclaimers, with detailed descriptions of the material streams involved, to characterize the resource use and emissions from these operations that are key processes in the recycling system. Example results include greenhouse gas intensities of 8.58 kg CO2 equiv per ton of MRF feed and 103.7 kg CO2 equiv per ton of reclaimer PET bale feed. The results can be used in system analyses for various scenarios and as inputs in economic input-output and life cycle assessments.

Description Production of detergents and aldehydes could help tackle plastic pollution Not a week passes without a chemical company announcing that it will be investing in a new recycling facility. Four major reasons explain the increasing interest in this field: pressure from citizens, stricter legal requirements, new and better technologies, and improved business cases. Rightfully, the public is dissatisfied with recycling rates, notably below 9% in the United States (1). This makes governments respond by enforcing a minimum recycled plastic content, such as the 30% target in the European Union. Therefore, a plastics circular economy, in which new, high-quality plastics can be remanufactured from plastic waste, is becoming increasingly popular. Plastics should no longer be considered waste but rather valuable resources. On pages 660 and 666 of this issue, Li et al. (2) and Xu et al. (3), respectively, report strategies to recycle plastic waste into potentially valuable products, such as alcohols, aldehydes, surfactants, and detergents.

Plastic recycling rates are still low in the United States (U.S.), with less than 10% of municipal solid waste (MSW) plastic being recycled. Most unrecycled plastics are identified by Resin Identification Codes (RIC) from #3-7, which are commonly destined for landfill or waste-to-energy facilities (WTE). Therefore, the composition and quality of outbound bales containing #3-7 plastics were assessed to understand the potential to increase recycling rates. Three bales were sourced from three different Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) located in the United States. Each bale was manually sorted and characterized for quality and performance via multiple plastic characterization techniques. Considerable differences in bale composition were observed between MRFs, which correlated with the technology used by each MRF in the sorting process. The differences were substantial in the residual levels of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which are highly desired for mechanical recycling processes and not expected in #3-7 plastics bales. Traditional recycling processes including washing, extrusion, and injection molding of the sorted material were employed prior to the physical, thermal, and molecular characterization. Despite differences in bale composition by plastic type, some polymer properties were similar across MRFs. This research suggests that landfill-diverted mixed plastic waste can be utilized in the mechanical recycling of currently unrecycled materials, as processes can be designed to work with consistent polymer properties. It also highlights the need to upgrade the sorting systems to prevent waste feedstocks, which can be recycled with current technologies, from contaminating other plastic streams or reach landfills.

er and packaging products, such as PET beverage bottles, HDPE bottles for milk and water, and a wide variety of other resin types used in other plastic containers, bags, sacks, wraps and lids. This web page is a brief summary of plastic materials-specific data. For more comprehensive information, refer to the 2018 Data Tables on the Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures Report page . On this page: Overview Summary Table and Graph Overview EPA measures the generation, recycling, composting, combustion with energy recovery and landfilling of plastic materials in municipal solid waste. The primary data source on the generation of plastics is the American Chemistry Council. In 2018, plastics generation was 35.7 million tons in the United States, which was 12.2 percent of MSW generation. EPA used data from the American Chemistry Council, the National Association for PET Container Resources, and the Association of Plastic Recyclers to measure the recycling of plastic. While overall the amount of recycled plastics is relatively small—three million tons for a 8.7 percent recycling rate in 2018—the recycling of some specific types of plastic containers is more significant. The recycling rate of PET bottles and jars was 29.1 percent in 2018, and the rate for HDPE natural bottles was 29.3 percent in 2018. The total amount of plastics combusted in MSW in 2018 was 5.6 million tons. This was 16.3 percent of all MSW combusted with energy recovery that year. In 2018, landfills received 27 million tons of plastic. This was 18.5 percent of all MSW landfilled. Please refer to the EPA Methodology Document for further information on estimating the generation and management of plastics. Plastics Table and Graph The data below are from 1960 to 2018, relating to the total number of tons of plastics generated, recycled, composted, combusted with energy recovery and landfilled. 1960-2018 Data on Plastics in MSW by Weight (in thousands of U.S. tons) Management Pathway

Sustainable Structural Lightweight Concrete with Recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate Waste Aggregate Plastic is a widely consumed material with a high decomposition time, occupying significant space in landfills and dumps. Thus, strategies to reuse plastic waste are imperative for environmental benefit. Plastic waste is a promising eco-friendly building material for cement-based composites due to its reduced specific gravity and thermal conductivity. However, this waste reduces the composites’ mechanical strength. This work aims to produce and evaluate lightweight concretes made with only lightweight aggregates and mostly recycled plastic aggregates. Initially, an optimized dosage approach for lightweight concrete is presented. The mixture proportion of the lightweight concrete was based on the performance of mortars with the complete replacement of natural aggregate by recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) aggregates. The PET aggregates showed irregular shapes, impairing workability and providing lightweight concretes with around 18% water absorption and 21% void index. However, the concretes presented significantly low-unit weight, approximately 1200 kg/m³.

for other PET containers. The United States actually recycles far fewer plastic water bottles … market in the United States dropped from 13 percent to 8 percent; in the United Kingdom … 2008). 17. United States Code of Federal Regulations, 21 CFR 129.35. 18. United States Code of

small fraction of its plastic waste. A 2023 analysis found that less than 6% of post-consumer plastics were actually recycled, with the majority ending up There is no national law in the United States that mandates recycling. State and local governments often introduce their own recycling requirements. In 2014, the recycling/composting rate for municipal solid waste in the U.S. was 34.6%. A number of U.S. states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont have passed laws There is no national law in the United States that mandates recycling. State and local governments often introduce their own recycling requirements. In 2014, the recycling/composting rate for municipal solid waste in the U.S. was 34.6%. A number of U.S. states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont have passed laws that establish deposits or refund values on beverage containers while other jurisdictions rely on recycling goals or landfill bans of recyclable materials. Recent data has shown that despite expanded recycling programs, the United States recycles only a small fraction of its plastic waste. A 2023 analysis found that less than 6% of post-consumer plastics were actually recycled, with the majority ending up in landfills or incineration facilities.