How much recycled plastic worth

The UK, like most developed nations, produces more waste than it can process at home: m tonnes a year — about 1. The present dumping ground of choice is Malaysia. In October last year, a Greenpeace Unearthed investigation found mountains of British and European waste in illegal dumps there: Tesco crisp packets, Flora tubs and recycling collection bags from three London councils. As in China, the waste is often burned or abandoned, eventually finding its way into rivers and oceans.

In May, the Malaysian government began turning back container ships, citing public health concerns. Thailand and India have announced bans on the import of foreign plastic waste. But still the rubbish flows. We want our waste hidden. Green Recycling is tucked away at the end of an industrial estate, surrounded by sound-deflecting metal boards.

Outside, a machine called an Air Spectrum masks the acrid odour with the smell of cotton bedsheets. But, all of a sudden, the industry is under intense scrutiny. In the UK, recycling rates have stagnated in recent years, while National Sword and funding cuts have led to more waste being burned in incinerators and energy-from-waste plants. Incineration, while often criticised for being polluting and an inefficient source of energy, is today preferred to landfill, which emits methane and can leach toxic chemicals.

Some councils have debated giving up recycling altogether. And yet the UK is a successful recycling nation: In the US, that figure is If you look at plastics, the picture is even bleaker.

Of the 8. Academics and NGOs doubt those numbers, due to the uncertain fate of our waste exports. R ecycling is as old as thrift.

The Japanese were recycling paper in the 11th century; medieval blacksmiths made armour from scrap metal. This was contaminated with all sorts of undesirables: non-recyclable materials, food waste, oils and liquids that rot and spoil the bales.

At the same time, the packaging industry flooded our homes with cheap plastic: tubs, films, bottles, individually shrink-wrapped vegetables. Plastic is where recycling gets most controversial. But with plastic, it is not that simple. The carbon-reduction benefits are also less clear. It also wastes a lot of energy, meaning more greenhouse gas emissions. My team at UC Santa Barbara , working with colleagues at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Cornell, discovered a clean way to turn polyethylene into useful smaller molecules.

It is also one of the largest contributors to plastic waste. It represents a third of the nearly million metric tons of plastic the world makes every year, for purposes ranging from sterile food and medical packaging, waterproof films and coatings, cable and wire insulation, construction materials and water pipes, to wear-resistant hip and knee replacements and even bulletproof vests.

The process we have developed does not require high temperatures, but instead depends on tiny amounts of a catalyst containing a metal that removes a little hydrogen from the polymer chain. The catalyst then uses this hydrogen to cut the bonds that hold the carbon chain together, making smaller pieces.

The key is using the hydrogen as soon as it forms so that the chain-cutting provides the energy for making more hydrogen. This process is repeated many times for each chain, turning the solid polymer into a liquid.

The more we recycle, the greater our positive impact can be. When it comes to recycled plastic bottles, a small number actually become plastic bottles again. After five years, the chair helped divert more than 15 million plastic bottles from landfills. Advanced Recycling Technologies ARTs are essential to ensuring that plastics stay out of the environment, while also creating new products and economic growth opportunities that benefit society.

From interior components to structural elements, here's how aircraft plastics fortify the aerospace and aviation industries. Plastic packaging protects products in transit and with a lower environmental impact than alternatives. With more consumers using e-commerce than ever before, industry is leading the way in developing new recycling initiatives that address waste challenges.

Some regions are reporting prices reaching 75 cents per pound. The national average price of color HDPE is also up again, now trading at Some regions have reported highs over 23 cents per pound. The national average price of post-consumer polypropylene saw a major jump over the last month. The grade is now trading at Last July, recycled PP was at a low of 3.