Plastics In Everyday Life

Plastics are used in almost every aspect of our lives. Beverage containers, toys, and furniture. Plastics make up more than 12 percent of the municipal solid waste stream, having increased sharply from 1960, when plastics amounted to just one percent of the waste stream.
The largest category of plastics are found in containers and packaging (e.g., soft drink bottles, lids, shampoo bottles), but they also are found in durable (e.g., appliances, furniture) and nondurable goods (e.g., diapers, trash bags, cups and utensils, medical devices). The recycling rate for different types of plastic varies greatly, resulting in an overall plastics recycling rate of only 7 percent, or 2.1 million tons in 2009. However, the recycling rate for some plastics is much higher, for example in 2009, 28 percent of PET bottles and jars and 29 percent of HDPE bottles were recycled.

Just the Facts

• 30 million tons of plastic waste were generated in 2009.
• In 2009, the United States generated 13 million tons of plastics as containers and packaging, almost 11 million tons as durable goods, such as appliances, and almost 7 million tons as nondurable goods, for example plates and cups.
• Only 7 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2009 was recycled.
• In 2009, plastic  bags, sacks, and wraps were recycled at 9 percent.
• Plastics also are found in automobiles, but recycling of these materials is counted separately.

statistics referenced from the United States Environmental Protection Agency