Innovating, creating, and buying products made of recycled materials is essential to reducing our environmental footprint. It’s also an important part of moving towards a “Closed Loop process” where plastics are created, used, then recycled for use in new products.
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As we move towards a more sustainable world, it’s important to understand the ins-and-outs of plastic recycling.
Here are 5 things you need to know about recycling plastics.
Labels and symbols can help you understand whether a product is made of recycled material or is recyclable. Here are some important things to understand when looking at labels.
First, you’ll often see the recycling symbol — the three chasing arrows — with a number on it. That number is the Plastic Resin Identification Code, telling you what type of plastic is in the product.
While the Plastic Resin Identification Code tells you the plastic types, it doesn’t tell you whether it’s recycled. Even if the number is within the recycling symbol! In fact, National Geographic estimates that more than 90 percent of all plastics are never recycled!
Second, ecolabels are granted to products that meet certain sustainability benchmarks. For example, the US Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is an ecolabel that certifies a product has been made using post-consumer recycled plastic, responsible end-of-life management is offered, and energy efficiency practices. Another ecolabel is the UL 2809 validation, which acknowledges a product’s post-consumer recycled (PCR) content and the efficacy of its closed-loop process.
As the world becomes digitally interconnected and mobile devices continue proliferating, there’s an increasing problem of what to do with that electronic waste or “e-waste” at end-of-use.
From old smartphones to computers and mice, e-waste is now the fastest-growing waste stream in the world. In 2018, the World Economic Forum estimated the e-waste stream had reached 48.5 million tonnes.
Consumers can play their part in closing the loop by making plastic-conscious buying decisions and choosing to recycle their e-waste.
Many communities have e-waste drop off sites where old technology is disassembled and repurposed. If these facilities do not exist near you and the product is still functional, consider donating the technology to those in need.
Biodegradable plastics are usually made from plants such as bamboo or sugarcane rather than fossil fuels. They are designed to break up when exposed to microorganisms and follow rigorously controlled conditions of temperature and humidity in industrial environments.
However, you should know that ‘biodegradable’ plastics do not naturally compost. In order to decompose, these plastics must go through a recycling process where anaerobic digesters break down the material in a highly-controlled environment. Many local recycling facilities do not possess the technology to do this.
We’re a long way from throwing bio plastics in the household compost pile to decompose, but we can ensure bio plastics make it to an industrial compost facility or simply make conscious buying decisions to minimize our plastic usage.
Canada is moving towards banning single-use plastics in 2021 and beyond.
Canada’s legislation aims to eliminate plastic products that are designed to be used once, then disposed of.
Once enacted, Canada will join the over 35 nations across the world that have already banned single-use plastics, including the UK, France, and Italy.
Single-use plastics make up most of the plastic litter found in Canadian freshwater, which then breaks down to create hazardous microplastics.
From bringing travel utensils with you, to skipping on a straw, consumers can help minimize their single-use plastic intake to further reduce their environmental footprint.
The circular economy model is a sustainable alternative where materials are recycled and then repurposed at the end of their life, rather than disposed of.
A circular economy doesn’t happen by accident. It’s designed intentionally, per the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a circular economy builds on three principles:
Lavergne’s goal is to move closer to “Infinite Recycling” — a pure Closed Loop process — where products made with recycled plastics are recycled so they’ll live again as raw material in new products.
At Lavergne, we’re not only recycling — we’re continually developing new ways to make new plastics using old plastics. We believe the world has already created enough plastics to meet all our future needs.
Subscribe to the Lavergne newsroom today.
Given that PET bottles made up 63 per cent of plastic bottle waste in 2019, I estimate that 127 tonnes of PET bottles were thrown away every day in 2021, the latest year for which figures are available. Plastics constituted only about 6 per cent of all recyclables recovered from municipal solid waste; the specific rate for PET bottles is unknown.
Since 2020, the Environmental Protection Department has provided instead a combined figure for the disposal of all plastic bottles. Such a backward step in data transparency hinders the public monitoring of environmental issues in Hong Kong.
Almost all of Hong Kong’s polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles continue to be thrown away, rather than recycled, despite plastic recovery schemes . Less than one per cent were recycled in 2019, the latest year for which discrete PET figures are available, with the bulk – about 121 tonnes a day – ending up in a landfill. Many such plastic bottles are simply dumped on our beaches and nature trails, polluting our environment.
Since the establishment of our environmental group, The Green Earth, in 2016, we have offered the authorities advice on effective strategies to tackle Hong Kong’s
serious plastic waste problem
, which includes single-use PET bottles and cartons.Contact us to discuss your requirements of PET plastic recycling HongKong. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.
It was recently reported that the city’s
most advanced plastic recycling facility
has been close to suspending operations since April due to insufficient feedstock. The large-scale plant only began operating at the EcoPark in January last year, and can produce food-grade recycled PET.I remembered attending the groundbreaking ceremony in late 2019 at which then-environment minister Wong Kam-sing officiated. I was pleased to witness the recycling milestone, which was expected to be followed by a
producer responsibility scheme
to mandate producers to recycle single-use drink containers.Frank Schepers, general manager of New Life Plastics, with the company’s final recycled products at the EcoPark facility in Tuen Mun on September 6 last year. Photo: K.Y. ChengLast December, I attended the plant’s opening ceremony. No senior official from the Environment and Ecology Bureau was there to make a speech or show support on stage. The recycler is able to process up to 30 tonnes of plastic bottles a day – but for the first three months of this year, only had about 10 tonnes a day.
I was shocked when I heard that the plant might be suspending operations, but not surprised once I learned why. Recycling is no different from any other business in that it needs to make a profit to continue.
Used PET bottles and liquid cartons carry almost zero value in our city, and this is reflected by the scavengers who traditionally go for more “valuable” recyclable rubbish such as paper and metals. That some scavengers have started to collect single-use drink packaging in recent years is due to their artificially created value, a result of the recovery schemes funded by the government or companies.
But for most consumers, this artificial value is still too low to encourage them to return used drink packaging for recycling. How low, you might ask? Well, don’t laugh when I tell you that some recyclers offer just
five cents a bottle
while government-fundedreverse vending machines
offer 10 cents.06:47
SCMP Explains: How does Hong Kong handle its waste?
SCMP Explains: How does Hong Kong handle its waste?
I can see why large companies support NGOs in launching recycling schemes. Among other things, it helps NGOs do their good work and is good marketing, especially for drink producers.
But for the government, surely the greater responsibility is to direct the drink industry towards the right approach to tackling plastic waste, instead of piloting recovery schemes that do not even offer rebates attractive enough to change mass consumer behaviour.
To put it bluntly, both the drink industry and the government are too naive if they truly think that such meagre rebates would be effective.
02:42
Japanese ballet company hopes to put global plastic crisis on centre stage
Japanese ballet company hopes to put global plastic crisis on centre stage
The Global Deposit Book 2022, published by international non-profit organisation Reloop, indicates that a minimum deposit value of 7-9 US cents (equivalent to 55-70 Hong Kong cents) can help achieve a median return rate of 75 per cent.
To tackle the drink packaging waste problem effectively, the Environmental Protection Department should refer to the successful approaches in the Global Deposit Book and submit a draft bill on producer responsibility to the Legislative Council immediately.
To prevent existing and new recycling facilities from closing down and setting back the plastic recycling effort, I propose that we fix the minimum recycling rate at 70 per cent as a starting point and adopt a more incentivised deposit return approach.
Edwin Lau Che-feng is executive director of The Green Earth
If you want to learn more, please visit our website post industrial recycled resin.