Plastics project: background information

Plastic impact on environment, landfills

Plastic that is not recycled often ends up in landfills. However, plastic is a mostly stable
compound and does not break up easy and can stay together even longer if it is being shielded
by sunlight by being in the ground. However, when it does start to break down it can create
chemicals that are not only toxic to humans, but also to other forms of wildlife. These chemicals
become pollutants in our air and our water, and are now making their way into our food. Some
of the significant releases of chemicals from plastics breaking down are: trichloroethane,
Acetone, methylene chloride, methyl ethyl ketone, Styrene; Toluene; Benzene;
1,1,1-trichloroethane. Up to 60% of all plastic ever made is somewhere on earth (Ecology
Center, Unknown).

In Utah, recycling of plastics most occurs up in the Salt Lake Valley, but very little is recycled
here in Southern Utah. That means that most of the plastic that we buy and then discard are
mostly put into landfills. Currently, Utah lawmakers are pushing a bill that would add a 10 cent
charge on plastic bags because utahns throw away about 940 million plastic bags each year and
only about 1-3% are ever recycled. The majority end up in our landfills, which are creating the
problems outlined above​. (​Beeby, G., unknown)

In an effort to stop all of the plastic ending up in the ground, a Utah based firm has created a
method that can turn plastic headed to the landfills into crude oil. They had the capacity in
2014 to take up to 20,000 lbs of plastic and turn it into 60 barrels of oil each day, all with zero
emissions.(​Lee, J., 2014)

Current state of recycling in Utah, challenges

Utah at bottom of national rankings for recycling (Nelson).

Recycling in Utah is inconvenient. Waste management companies have started to implement

curbside “single stream” recycling (single bins for all recyclables), which makes recycling easier,
but it’s not available everywhere. Even with single stream, items like plastic grocery bags, glass,
and shredded paper cannot be recycled in this way and must be taken to specialized facilities.
Any benefit of recycling this way is likely offset by cost of transportation to facility (Nelson, K.,
unknown).

Waste Management in Utah specializes in paper, plastics, and aluminum cans. Although they
specialize in these things, they cannot do plastics bags and shredded paper. Those items have
to be separated out. They don’t allow for glass recycling because WM simply can’t get the glass
pure enough to make a quality product.

Recycling in Cedar City is currently limited to drop off at a WCWM recycling bin at 6 locations
(paper, metals, and plastics), while scrap recycling for metals and appliances is available at
Robinson Recycling. At other locations in Utah (e.g. Park City), small recycling bins are available
for a $3/day lease. WCWM provides free electronics recycling at the St. George landfill
($0.25/pound for commercial businesses). Other districts charge varying prices, from free
recycling for cell phones to $20 for a CRT monitor.

Utah recycling facilities are filling up more than ever because China won’t allow us to send our
recyclables anymore. This is because our recyclables are dirty and they don’t want to take that
on. One contaminated item (e.g. dirty diaper or a t-shirt) can ruin an entire load of recyclables.
Containers also must be cleaned out before bringing them to recycling facilities or putting them
in the blue bin. Often times people forget about this and it contaminates a load.

Impact of hotel plastics and soaps

Most hotels have no recycling program. Little bottles go to landfill, some mostly full of soap. 2
million partially used bars of soap thrown away every day in the U.S. (Haines, G., 2017).

Clean the World: a business aimed at recycling leftover hotel soap. Takes old soap, cleans,
grinds, and reforms them. Distributes recycled soap to poor. Has recycled 603,810 pounds of
soap (Haines, G., 2017).

TerraCycle offers a hotel amenity bottle recycling program, but it is expensive ($100 for a 11 x
11 x 20” box)

Process of Plastic Recycling

Recycling plastics uses 33% less energy and emissions than creating new plastics. Plastics are
carbon based polymers and each type of plastic must first be sorted into its resin type which is
indicated by a number that can usually be found on the bottom of the container. Once plastics
have been sorted they are shredded into tiny pieces, washed free of any contaminants, and
then formed into plastic pellets. The pellets that are formed are the raw material for creating
more plastics. Only about 80 percent of plastics are able to be recycled.
Sources
Beeby, G. (unknown). Utah Lawmaker Wants Us All to Stop Using Plastic Bags. Retrieved
February 28, 2018, from
http://www.good4utah.com/news/local-news/utah-lawmaker-wants-us-all-to-stop-using-plasti
c-bags/381540165

Ecology Center. (unknown). PTF: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS. Retrieved February 28, 2018,
from ​https://ecologycenter.org/plastics/ptf/report3/

Haines, G. (2017, May 12). The shameful truth behind what happens to all your leftover hotel
toiletries. Retrieved March 6, 2018 from
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travel-truths/what-happens-to-all-your-leftover-hotel-toile
tries/

Lee, J. (2014, March 18). Utah firm making crude oil from discarded plastics . Retrieved
February 28, 2018, from ​https://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=29116413​.

Nelson, K. (unknown). Recycle This: What's so hard about recycling in Utah? Retrieved March 6,
2018 from
http://www.good4utah.com/news/local-utah-state-news-/recycle-this-whats-so-hard-about-re
cycling-in-utah/204109558