Recycling Plastics:
An Oxymoron

[ Recycle Definition  |  Plastic Resin Codes ]

• Pepsi to Cut Plastic Used in Bottles: Too Bad For Municipalities Recycling Programs - Wall Street Journal 6may2008
• Plastic Beverage Container Waste Soars - American Recycler 1apr2007
  • Water, Water Everywhere: The Growth of Non-Carbonated Beverages in the United States - Container Recycling Institute 1feb2007
• Garbage Land: On The Secret Trail of Trash - Book Review / Washington Post 10jul2005

• CA Legislation: Recycling: Food and Beverage Packages: Labeling -Assembly Bill No. 1049 / California Legislature—2005–06 Regular Session / Introduced by Assembly Member Koretz 22feb2005

• Plastic Bottle Recycling on the Ropes - Container and Packaging Recycling UPDATE 7oct04

• Recycling Efforts Dropping Off: Matter of routine for some seems to have become old news for others -  USA Today 7jul04

• Plastic: Not So Fantastic - Terrain Winter 2003 1nov03

• Generation and Recovery of Plastics 1960-1995 - Graph 

• Why Can't We Recycle All This Plastic? -  BBC 19sep03

• The Problem with Plastics: Recycling it Overseas Poses Risks to Workers. Doing it Here Doesn't Pay  - North Coast Journal Weekly 5jun03

• Presentation to the Northern California Recyclers Association  -  Paul Goettlich 18mar03

• Plastic Waste Hits an All Time High: Only One Out of Five Bottles Recycled - Container and Packaging Recycling UPDATE Fall/Winter02

• Bombay, India: Being Buried Alive in Plastic  - AP 1sep02

• Denmark: No Environmental Benefits in Collecting Disposable Plastic - Environment Daily 16jul02

• Indian Vendor Carries Balls Made From Recycled Plastic in New Delhi - Reuters 9jul02

• India: Recycled Plastics Manufacture and usage Amendment Rules, 2002 Ministry of Environment & Forests New Delhi 1jul02

• Environmental Organizations Vow to Block Export of NYC Garbage to Caribbean, Demand Real Solutions - Press Release 1jul02

• New York City to End Recycling of Glass and Plastic  - NY Times 1jul02

• Plastic Roads: New tech to use waste plastic for road construction - DH News Service Bangalore 9apr02

  • Utilisation of Waste Plastic Bags in Bituminous Mix for Improved Performance of Roads - Centre for Transportation Engineering, Bangalore University, Bangalore, India [Unpublished] Apr02

• Waste Gasification Touted as `Green Energy' for South Africa 'Green Electricity' for Cape Town Press Release 4mar02

• Computers: Exporting a Problem -  Recycling Today 18feb02

• Plastic Bottle Waste Dramatically Exceeds Recycling in 2000 - Container and Packaging Recycling UPDATE Summer/Fall 2001

• Shareholders Press Beverage Industry to Increase Recycling: Coke Commits, Pepsi Snubs - Container and Packaging Recycling UPDATE Summer/Fall 2001

• Pepsi Drops Recycled Plastic in Gatorade  -  Plastics Recycling Update Oct01

• Plastic Container "Recycling" Under 25%  - GreenYes Listserve 30jul01

• Retailers Looking for Plastic Bag Recycling Solutions as Recycling Plants Close  -  South Bend Tribune 6jul01

• Recycling  PR  BS by APC "Do Your Part...Please Recycle Plastic Bottles" - News Release 2jul01

• MBA Reopens: Innovative Plastics Plant Returns After Fire -  SF Chronicle 11jun01

• Scrap Tires Used to Make Highways called 'Recycling' - SF Chronicle 3jun01

• Wisconsin Prohibits Retail Plastic Container with less than 10% postconsumer waste in 2002, 20% in 2004, and 25% in 2006 - 31may01

• Californians Trashing "Recyclable" Bottles  -  SF Chronicle 25may01

• Industry Definition of  'Recycling': Pentagon 'Recycles' Vietnam Era Napalm  - SFC 4apr01

• Flame Retardants Released by Recycling Old Computers are Health Hazard  - Mindfully.org 1feb01

• Beverage Container Waste Sets Record in 1998, Recycling Declines  - Container and Packaging Recycling UPDATE  Fall 2000

• Incineration for Energy aka 'recycling' by the plastics industry

  • Your Scrap May Be Energy! - Advertisement 26sep01

  • PAH emission from the Incineration of Three Plastic Wastes (HDaPE, PP, PVC) - Environment International Jul01

• Pepsi 'Broke Recycling Promise' -  GrassRoots Recycling Network 27apr01

• 1999 Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity - NAPCOR

• India: Bags of Rubbish - The Ecologist Nov00

• No Federal Legislative Authority Mandates the "Chasing Arrows" EPA Response to Citizen 7jun00

• Recyclers, Already Facing Losses, Fear New Plastics  -  Wall Street Journal 17nov99

• Volume of Plastic Bottles going to Landfills increased 15 percent in 1998  - Container Recycling Institute 25jun99

• Report of the Berkeley Plastics Task Force a Project of the Ecology Center 1996

• Minerals and Plastics in a Computer: Efficiency of  Present "Recycling" 1996

• Packaging Action Plan - Packaging Task Force, Washington State Department of Ecology  Jan91