American Chemistry Council Recycling Reports Released

Recently, the American Chemistry Council, a trade organization "representing companies engaged in the business of chemistry" released two reports discussing recycling of rigid plastics.  According to the press release,

[t]he “2011 National Postconsumer Non-Bottle Rigid Plastic Recycling Report” found that 61 percent of rigid plastics collected in the United States were recycled in the United States or Canada, a sharp increase from the slightly over one-third recycled in this region in 2007, when Moore Recycling began measuring rigid plastics collection.

This report also found that polypropylene and polyethylene plastics comprise the largest portion (70 percent) of postconsumer non-bottle rigid plastics collected in the United States with polypropylene constituting 39 percent of all rigid plastics recycling and high-density polyethylene constituting 31 percent.

Contributing to the recent surge in rigid plastics recycling has been a substantial increase in the number of communities that are now collecting many types of rigid plastics in addition to bottles. The new consumer access report, “Plastic Recycling Collection: National Reach Study, 2012 Update” found that more than 1,400 cities and 300 counties in the United States now collect all rigid plastic containers in addition to plastic bottles.