Spectacular growth in US rigid plastics recycling

United States – Between 2011 and 2012, non-bottle rigid plastics recycling in the USA increased by 10% to total 1 billion pounds (or more than 450 000 tonnes), thus tripling the volumes recycled as recently as 2007.

The American Chemistry Council attributes the growth to the ′increasing popularity of large bins and access to single-stream collection programmes′. Rigid plastics include items such as toys, cups, caps, vehicle parts, pipes and garden products.

Steve Alexander, executive director of the Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers, comments: ′In a short period of time, rigids have become the fastest-growing category of plastics recycling, and we are excited about the future.′

For more information, visit: www.americanchemistry.com