Tee Cee's Tip for Monday, May 10, 2021

Daily Times-Call, Longmont, Colo.
·3 min read

May 11—Dear Tee Cee,

I've heard a lot about plastic bottles that are put into recycling getting thrown away because there isn't a market for them. Is it better to buy things like milk in cartons instead of plastic jugs?

Thanks,

Judy

Hi Judy,

Thanks for considering which packaging is best for recycling and the environment!

First, just to assure you — if you are buying milk in a No. 2 plastic milk jug, it is most definitely being recycled at the Boulder County Recycling Center.

But you're right that there has been a lot of news over the last few years about the difficulties of recycling plastic, and for good reason. Plastic recycling in general is significantly challenged because the plastic industry churns out an increasing amount of plastic, but they buy back only a fraction of it for recycling.

Much of recycled plastics are being sold to producers of products like carpeting, rather than back to the plastics industry to make new bottles. That makes marketing recycled plastic very challenging. By contrast, other materials marketed for recycling — paper, aluminum, steel, glass — are going back to the industry that created them, and that industry is using that "post-consumer recycled content" to make new and similar products.

But some plastics are more recyclable than others. You mention milk in plastic milk jugs. Right now, No. 2 plastics (like the typical milk jugs) are actually one of our highest value materials we are recycling, so not only are they being recycled, they are even a very valuable commodity right now. These plastics are also considered "safer," meaning they are less toxic to produce and to use. Plastic bottles, tubs, jugs and jars with a No. 5 also have a stable market and are also considered "safe."

On the "OK" list is No. 1 PET plastic bottles and tubs. We recyclers are putting a lot of pressure on bottlers using No. 1 PET to buy their bottles back, and that is having some effect, but this market is still more challenging than the No. 2 and No. 5.

On the "far worse" list is any plastic with a No. 3, No. 6 and No. 7 (PC, not to be confused with No. 7 PLA that is made of plants and is compostable). We recommend you do not buy these plastics as they are far more toxic to produce, they have health impacts in their use, and they are extremely difficult to recycle.

You ask whether it would be better for recycling to buy in other containers rather than plastic, and almost always the answer to that is "yes," particularly if the alternative is glass or metal. These materials always have a solid recycling market, the material is infinitely recyclable, and they can be marketed regionally, so they don't have to travel a long distance to be made into something new. Less travel means fewer carbon emissions. Glass is recycled right down the road in Broomfield, and aluminum has multiple regional recycling markets.

Paper milk cartons are also readily recyclable, so that's probably an "either/or" choice. If you're buying nondairy milk that is shelf-stable and sold in a paper carton, that is a great choice because it isn't sent on a refrigerated truck or stored in a refrigerator at the store, so it has a much smaller climate footprint. The cartons are also very recyclable, as carton producers actively engage in creating recycling markets for their cartons.

If you're talking about cow's milk, the best packaging option of all would be to buy milk in a refillable glass bottle from a local dairy. That's because reuse and refill uses fewer resources and less energy than recycling; your product isn't traveling hundreds, if not thousands, of miles to get to you, and if the glass bottle breaks, it is easily recycled at a local recycling market.

I hope that helps, Judy. Who knew buying a gallon of milk could be so complicated?

Tee Cee

Have Zero Waste questions? Rosie@ecocycle.org has the answers.