Residential + Commercial

Plastics Recycling

The Truth about Plastics Recycling

A joint message from the City of Palm Springs, the Palm Springs Sustainability Commission, and Palm Springs Disposal Services

The world is struggling with a plastics problem. And, while plastic products play a vital role in our world, they can often end up in fields, rivers, and oceans causing harm to people, animals, and the planet.

Although recycling can help address this problem, the only markets for many types of plastics had traditionally been in Asia, meaning that these materials had to be shipped thousands of miles away. Unfortunately, beginning around 2015, the Asian markets began to decline dramatically.

Today, materials processors are having a difficult time finding other outlets, which has led to considerable confusion about where plastics products are actually going and what residents should do with them.

What You Need to Know and Do

Learn about the different types of plastics, which should be recycled and which should be kept out of your recycling bins.

What Happens to Materials Placed in the Cart?

You put paper, glass, metal and plastic materials into your recycle cart, but then what happens? The route truck collects the contents from your cart and delivers the load to a local transfer station, where it is consolidated into larger capacity trailers and transported to a material recovery facility (“MRF”) in the Inland Empire.

At the MRF, the material is loaded onto conveyor belts and undergoes a variety of manual and mechanical sorting processes using air, optics and magnets. First, the system separates the various materials by type. Next, the sorted material is consolidated into bales or containers for transport to various processors or manufacturers that ideally convert the material into a feedstock and ultimately new products.

plastics recycling process

Types of Plastic

The first step in recycling begins with what you, the consumer purchases. You can:

chasing arrow symbol

When examining plastic products and plastic packaging, look for the "chasing arrows," typically on the bottom of the container, surrounding a number – usually #1 - #7. Some manufacturers are also adopting new “How2Recycle” labels that can provide additional information.

Plastics #1 and #2

These two categories of plastic containers continue to have positive market value, and they are being recycled by U.S. manufacturers. They should be the preferred plastic when you do purchase a plastic product or product in plastic packaging.

PET1 plastics to recycle

#1 PETE / PET

Polyethylene Terephthalate

  • plastic water bottles
  • soft drink bottles
  • juice containers
  • salad dressing bottles
  • peanut butter jars
  • mouthwash bottles
  • ovenable food trays
PET1 plastics to recycle

#2 HDPE

High-Density Polyethylene

  • milk jugs
  • shampoo bottles
  • butter and yogurt tubs
  • laundry detergent containers
  • motor oil bottles
  • bleach bottles

Plastics #3 — #7

Plastics #3 thru #7 are still being collected and sent to a MRF station. Currently, these materials have very limited markets and little or no market value. They are either being sent overseas or stockpiled when market demand is low. A portion of this material has even been landfilled after the sorting process due to the negative market.

At this time, we are hesitant to eliminate these plastics from the recycling stream because we are cautiously optimistic that these plastics may have a market in the future. The California legislature is actively working on domestic market development as well as determining the producer/manufacturer's recycling responsibility.

So, for now, continue to recycle Plastics #3 — #7.

PVC plastics to recycle

#3 PVC

Vinyl

PET1 plastics to recycle

#4 PELD/LDPE

Low-Density Polyethylene

Polypropylene plastics to recycle

#5 PP

Polypropylene

Polystyrene plastics to recycle

#6 PS + #7 Other Plastics

Polystyrene

Unmarked Plastics

Unmarked plastics are usually a bonded blend of recyclable materials that are NOT recyclable because they are blended or bonded. They do not belong in your recycling cart.

Bioplastics

Bioplastics are materials produced from renewable biomass resources and are marketed as compostable. Good examples are foodware produced from starches like corn, potato, tapioca, cellulose, and bamboo.

These products do eventually decompose so technically they are compostable. However, local compost facilities do not accept compostable bags or foodware because their decomposition takes much longer (about 180-days) than the decomposition cycle for food waste and landscape waste. And, bioplastic products actually degrade the nutritional value of compost because they themselves have zero nutritional value. Bioplastic products should be placed in the trash, not your recycling cart.

Bioplastics do have a place in your environmental decision-making as an alternative to plastics as they will decompose in the landfill. But, reusable foodware should be the first choice.

Additional Recycling Information

List of items you CAN recycle (PSDS)

List of items that are NOT recyclable (PSDS)

Plastics By The Numbers (EarthEasy.com)

Plastics Recycling (National Public Radio)

Download PDF

The Truth about Plastics Recycling

Quick Links

Residential Recycling
Residential Waste
Commercial Recycling
Pay Your Bill