Plastic Recycling in the U.S.A
- More than 20,000 U.S. facilities produce plastic materials, products, and equipment.
- Plastics make up about 8% of America's Municipal Solid Waste.
- The U.S. post consumer plastics industry employs over 52,000 workers.
- Over 1.3 billion pounds of post-consumer plastics are recycled annually in the U.S.
- The U.S. annually recycles 18% of all of its plastic bottles and containers and 36% of its soft drink bottles.
- In conventional recycling, sorted plastics are chopped, washed and converted into flakes or pellets that are then processed into new products.
Advanced recycling technologies can take plastics back to their original building blocks that are then used to create new products.