Is recycling the “right” choice? Or is it simply
overrated?
From kindergarten on, we are taught to “reduce, reuse, and recycle.”
However, recycling can be expensive, especially in the case of plastic.
Expenses have led to only 1-3 percent of plastic bags being recycled, and
many places banning the use of plastic bags. So should these bags be reused
and recycled, or just sent to landfills, where they take centuries to break down?
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Picture courtesy of http://www.aolcdn.com/rl_blogs/plasticbags400a072707.jpg
Only two of the major six types of plastic are
recycled. The majority of these are beverage bottles.
High Density Polyethylene (HDPE), is also used to
make grocery bags, however, only 1 percent of plastic
bags are recycled.
Plastic bags make up 4.5 percent of landfills, but take
centuries to break down. They cause outdoor
pollution, where they end up in trees, and even choke
animals. These plastic bags are sometimes referred to
as the “national flower” in South Africa!
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
The majority of trash is discarded.
Experts want to find alternatives for
these hard to recycle items. One
method is combustion for energy.
However, only one eighth of trash
is burned for energy, one third is
recycled, and over half is still
discarded in landfills where it
creates methane gas.
Picture courtesy of http://www.environmentagency.gov.uk/commondata/103196/281706?
referrer=/regions/southern/202145/294984/
Picture courtesy of CQ
Researcher.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Environmentalists Fight Back
Bag manufactures say to create a larger support for recycling.
It only costs 10 percent as much energy to recycle these
bags now, but they are currently being banned, or sent to
landfills. Instead, they could be recycled to make:
 bottles
 crates
 recycling bins
 and other containers.
Picture
courtesy of
www.bbk.ac.uk/
lib/images/blue
bin/bluebin
Picture courtesy of
www.shrewsbury.gov.uk/.../plastic+b
ottles.jpg
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Banning the Bags
Picture courtesy of
www.pitara.com/discover/e
arth/images/85_1.jpg
Large cities such as San Francisco, are banning
plastic shopping bags at large grocery and drug
stores. Many other cities such as Oakland are
looking at heading in this direction. Instead of
finding ways to reuse this “problem child”, they
are getting rid of them all together. However,
some states, like New York and New Jersey,
require recycling of the plastic bags. It keeps
the bags out of the landfills, where they are
sitting for years before biodegrading.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
No more “Paper or Plastic?”
Whole Foods grocery store is also banning the use of
plastic bags. They believe it will force users to find
more friendly substitutes that are easier to recycle or
dispose of. Worldwatch, and environmental research
group, says Americans discard 100 billion plastic bags
a year, and it takes more than a century to break down
in a landfill.
However, some people protest the ban. 92% of people
re-use these plastic bags, states the American Chemistry
Council.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Lower Cost or Lower Energy?
By recycling plastics, resources can be
concentrated in other areas instead of
manufacturing new products. Less energy is
used to recycle plastics than to create a new
plastic; however, manufacturers are driven by
cost, and so choose the cheaper option of
producing new materials.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Cost Factors
There are more than 2,500 types of plastic. The
Environmental Defense Fund says that “The
diversity of plastic is really defeating its ability to
be recycled.” Separation of the types of plastic
“requires complex techniques such as centrifugal
force and electrostatic charge.” The plastics
must be separated before they can be recycled.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Cost Factors (cont.)
Also, for the most part, these recycled plastics can only be
made into low-quality products with small market
worth. They are recycled into items such as carpet fiber
and supermarket carrier bags.
Plastics degrade so much during the recycling process that
they can only be recycled once!
These factors have caused the cost recycling of plastic to
outweigh the benefit of the recycled products, if
measured by market value.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Benefits of Recycling
Although the recycling of plastic can be expensive,
benefits are simply more than what the recycled
products can be sold for.
It keeps the plastic bags out of landfills, where
they take up space and are virtually
biodegradable.
It uses less energy to recycle products than to
make virgin products, regardless of the cost of
recycling.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Benefits of Recycling (cont.)
Remember: PET
and HDPE
bottles are made
of types of
plastic.
Picture courtesy of CQ
Researcher.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
So why aren’t more plastic bags recycled?
Most curbside recycling bins won’t recycle the plastic
bags because they clog the sorting machinery.
Also, low support for recycling means items to be
recycled must travel long distances to find recycling
locations. This long transportation increases the
cost of recycling, driving support back down.
Picture courtesy of
http://www.unpluggedliving.com/wpcontent/uploads/2007/08/containers.
jpg
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Ideas for the Future
In conclusion, recycling, especially of plastic bags is expensive for
several reasons.



Transportation due to low support
Separation of Plastics because of diversity
A low percentage of plastic bags are currently being recycled, driving up
costs.
Rather than banning plastic bags, or sending them to landfills,
support for recycling must increase to drive down costs. More
efforts are being made to make plastic bags lighter and easier to
recycle.
Current bags will take over a century to break down if they are not
recycled. In the future, these bags must either gain more support
for recycling, or be banned altogether.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.
Annotated Bibliography
(2005, September). The cost of recycling. Geographical, 77(9), 36-37.Retrieved March 18, 2008 from
Academic Search Complete database,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=18007519&site=ehost-live.
Geographical explains why recycling is not cost efficient. It explains some basic reasons why
recycling is so expensive compared to the use of landfills. It also addresses factors affecting the
cost of recycling plastics.
Griffin, R. D. (1992, March 20). Garbage crisis. CQ Researcher, 2(11), 241-264. Retrieved March 18,
2008 from CQ Researcher Online, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1992032000.
Horovitz, B. (2008, January 21). Whole Foods sacks plastic bags. USA TODAY. Retrieved March 18,
2008 from http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-01-21-whole-foodsbags_N.htm.
Smith, C. E. (2007, October 22). A propensity to recycle. Oil and Gas Journal, 105(40), 17. Retrieved
March 18, 2008 from Research Library at ProQuest,
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1371799871&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=30360&RQT=30
9&VName=PQD.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (1991). Plastic Wastes (Pollution Technology Review No. 201).
Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Data Corporation.
Weeks, J. (2007, December 14). Future of recycling. CQ Researcher, 17(44), 1033-1060. Retrieved March
18, 2008 from CQ Researcher Online,
http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre2007121400.
Mercer University School of
Engineering, Courtney C.