Plastics Recycling: Looking Ahead, 1991 Hot Melt Symposium Proceedings

It’s a pleasure to join you here today to participate in a conference on recycling of plastics. As you know, this is a topic which is receiving lots of attention from all quarters. I’ve seen projections that the demand for recycled plastics in the U.S. will increase by over 40% per year for the next four years. Put another way, the demand for recycled plastics could grow about ten times the rate of growth of overall plastics demand! Can this be true? Let’s spend a few minutes lookinq ahead at the supply and uses for recycled plastics to see where we’re going.

There’s a saying attributed to Yogi Berra that goes something like this, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it!" I think that piece of advice applies to plastics waste management in the future. I see one fork that says, "Recycling

is the best strategy. We should go-down the road that is marked recycle plastics." The other fork says, "Modern waste-to-energy incineration and landfilling are economical and sound methods for dealing with plastics and all wastes. Do what is most practical and environmentally sound for the long haul." Well, I think plastics should take Yogi’s advice and take both forks at once. We need to demonstrate a significant level of recycling, quickly, and in a way that is economically sustainable. At the same time, we should recognize that recycling is only part of the answer, and other disposal methods such as incineration and landfilling are also environmentally and economically sound strategies.

At present, plastics are not recycled in sufficient volume. If YOU accept that about 400 million pounds of plastics were recycled in 1989, this represents less than 2% of the use of commodity plastics. Not only does this seem low in comparison to other materials, but it is probably a fifth of the quantity which could be economically recycled if we develop the infra-structure to collect, reclaim, and reuse these plastics. Let’s look at the challenge.