Shifting the Paradigm of “Disposable” Plastics

“Disposable” plastics can be readily found in landfills (Key News via Nathan Moyer)

WHAT ARE PLASTICS?

Plastics are all around us, and we use plastics constantly throughout the day. Plastics make up our refrigerators and freezers, they form the dashboards and doors of our cars, and they are used to create medical equipment and electronic devices. There are also the single use plastics like shopping bags, straws, carryout containers, utensils and tableware, and even hygiene products. But there are some plastics of which we may not be aware.

Living in South Florida, seeing a boat is a regular occurrence. The majority of the boats you see are plastic, or coated in plastic, or both. Kayaks, paddleboards, surf boards, and other aquatic toys are also plastic, as are airplanes, buses, and scooters. Many showers, tubs, and hot tubs are plastic, and so is the insulation that keeps us cool in the summer and warm on that one day a year it drops below 60 degrees.

There is a big difference between these two groups, and the difference is defined by permanence of their form.

• Thermoplastics are plastics that can be reheated and reshaped into new forms, time and time again. These include polyethylene (plastic bags), polypropylene (some food containers), PET (plastic bottles), polystyrene (styrofoam), etc.
• Thermoset plastics can only be shaped once and are usually two liquids mixed together that form a solid. These include epoxy, polyester, vinyl ester, silicone, polyurethane, bakelite, fiberglass, etc.

There are benefits to each type of plastic. Thermosets are strong and durable, and they create structures like fiberglass boats, or protective sealants like polyurethane paint/finish. Thermoplastics are malleable, cheap, and easy to mold into almost anything you can imagine. However, they do not have the same strength as thermosets, so they tend to be used for single use or disposable items.

Thermoplastic bowls made from polypropylene are flimsy and obviously designed for single use (or if you’re careful, maybe even two uses!), so they are discarded into our waste/recycle bins without a second thought. Whereas, thermoset bowls made from bakelite are sturdy and resilient, and have somehow been cherished enough to now be labelled as vintage at times.

This paradigm of looking at thermosets as strong and valuable versus thermoplastics as weak and disposable has a role to play in our recycling of these plastics, as well as the products made from each.

PLASTIC RECYCLING

The basic rule of thumb for recycling plastics: Thermoplastics can be recycled. Thermoset plastics cannot be recycled.

But this rule isn’t entirely true.

Thermosets create permanent bonds, which mean they will not be moldable again, but that does not mean they cannot be recycled. Epoxies and fiberglass can be shredded back down and used as fillers in new epoxy creations. This is similar to paper recycling, where “recycled” paper actually contains a mix of new and old pulp. Thermosets can also be grinded into a powder and mixed with new thermosets to become glues for other projects, like laminating a new fiberglass layer to your old boat.

So, thermosets can be recycled, just not at the high rate and purity that thermoplastics can.

Thermoplastic recycling is a completely different game. We can easily and safely (assuming you are wearing the proper protective gear!) recycle numerous types of thermoplastics. PET bottles can become fabric. Bottle caps can become toothbrushes. Milk jugs can become bricks. And, jewel cases can become a conference table for Jaden Smith.

Here is the (very quick) breakdown of thermoplastic recycling:

• Plastic #1 (PET/polyethylene terephthalate): This plastic is temperamental to work with and can release some dangerous chemicals. However, skilled professionals can recycle this plastic via melting and/or shredding.
• Plastic #2 (HDPE/ high density polyethylene) and Plastic #4 (LDPE/low density polyethylene): These are different versions of the same plastic, polyethylene. This plastic is easy to recycle with the application of the proper heat and pressure.
• Plastic #3 (PVC/polyvinyl chloride): This plastic is very dangerous to recycle and is considered “unrecyclable” by many.
• Plastic #5 (PP/polypropylene): This plastic is easy to recycle with the application of the proper heat and pressure.
• Plastic #6 (PS/polystyrene): This plastic is easy to recycle with the application of the proper heat and pressure.
• Plastic #7 (Other): This is a catchall category that contains all other thermoplastics made including, ABS, PLA, and polycarbonates, among others. Some are easier, and safer, than others to recycle.

As you can see, for many of these disposable plastics, the recycling sky is the limit! PET is tricky to work with, and PVC is too dangerous to recycle, but PE, PP, and PS are all easy to reshape into new products.

OUR RECYCLING CRISIS

Prior to 2017, when we separated out our plastic, paper, and metal for the recycling bin and the trucks came by to pick them up, we thought those items were actually being recycled. However, most of that waste was shipped to China to be dealt with there.  When China shut its borders to accepting recyclables, we got a rude awakening.

Not only did we no longer have a major buyer for our waste, but we also learned that a lot of our recyclables were not being given a second life. Instead, they were mostly landfilled or burned. We have also become aware of the problems with our single-bin recycling system.

In May 2019, Scientific American reported that single stream recycling can limit the ability to recycle a large majority of the recyclables within — glass is crushed, liquids contaminate paper, actual garbage and food waste contaminates everything, the wrong plastics are included — and all of this makes recycling more costly, less efficient, and in the end, potentially impossible. In the same article, Waste Management, a trash-hauling recycling corporation, discusses how the actual people hired to sort the mixed recyclables are not “willing to show up every day, and many quit within hours.”

Our current system pollutes valuable, recyclable resources, and is also built on an infrastructure where people are not willing to work.

To further the problems, WLRN tells us that Waste Management contracts with most of the cities of Broward County have provisions that allow the hauler to decide if the recyclables go to their recycling plant or the landfill, which has led some cities to cancel recycling programs outright. And, as far as glass goes, Local10 tells us that there are no longer many buyers for glass, and that broken glass can contaminate the entire load of recyclables.

These rising costs and lack of buyers have created an environment where our recyclables are not being recycled, and some cities in South Florida do not even “waste” the time attempting to recycle their waste, and instead turn to the incinerator in order to at least produce some energy from it.

We are not seeing the commodity here. We are not utilizing these resources that are going to waste. In the not-so-distant future, we may see a rise in landfill mining, or landfill reclamation, for various resources like plastic, but until then, can we begin to take responsibility for our own waste? Can we keep these resources out of our landfills and begin to recycle them locally?

LOCAL RECYCLING – OWNING OUR WASTE

In December of 2018, WLRN reported that “only 18 percent of Miami-Dade county’s waste is recycled. Compared to other counties like Broward and Palm Beach, which recycle 33 and 45 percent of their waste, respectively, Miami-Dade is one of the lowest in the state of Florida.” Even at the high end, however, we are looking at over half of our sorted recyclables not actually being recycled.

Our plastic waste does not need to end up in the waste stream, nor does the plastic pollution that washes up on our shores need to return to the waste stream.

A nonprofit corporation operating under the Key Biscayne Community Foundation’s charitable umbrella, Free Plastic was launched in 2019 to begin recycling our plastic waste as well as the plastic pollution that is being harvested from South Florida beaches daily. Free Plastic aims to convert this resource into usable objects, furniture, building materials, and works of art, and in turn, help our community to find value in this waste.

And Free Plastic is not alone.

Precious Plastic, from the Netherlands, has created an entire open-source platform for anyone to tap into to begin collecting, shredding, and/or recycling plastics. They have their own Bazar to sell recycled goods, and they even created the foundation that Free Plastic’s latest shredder and injection machines are based on.

Pentatonic, operating out of Berlin and London, say “[m]an has already produced enough plastic and glass to fulfil our needs forever – it’s all out there, it’s just a case of reincarnating rather than burying it.” And, they are backing that statement up with product after product.

Then there are trash artists around the world, like Bordalo II, that are also repurposing the waste from a community into something meaningful, something valuable. And, Florida artists TC Trash Art are raising awareness about beach pollution by making trash art from their daily finds coming to the beaches of Hutchinson Island.

There is also some promising science that is working on plastics too. Learn more about that here and here.

What are we learning from all of this?

Plastic is a valuable resource that should be collected, not discarded. It should be harvested from our community and environment, and it should continue its very long life as useful products for our communities, not wasted pollution lurking around every corner within our community.