Plastic Bottles

When you recycle your plastic bottles, they can be transformed into new plastic products, such as bin liners, compost bins, new bottles, and even fleece jackets.

Although technically most plastics can be recycled; collection, infrastructure and low market demand are barriers to the recycling of some types of plastics. There are seven main types of plastics, but the most commonly recycled types in the UK are PET (1) and HDPE (2). Uses and demand for other plastics (particularly mixed plastics), are currently limited.

Plastic Bottle Facts

In the UK an estimated 13 billion plastic bottles are thrown away each year (Recoup).
The 108,000 tonnes of bottles recycled in 2006 saved approximately 162,000 tonnes of carbon (Recoup).
It takes just 25 plastic bottles to make a recycled fleece jacket (Recoup).

Are they sent to China?

There are a number of plastic reprocessing factories in the UK. A proportion of plastics are sent to China, but this is because they make many of the items that use recycled plastic. The plastics are transported on returning (empty) container ships. It is illegal to send waste abroad for disposal to landfill.

Does it save energy?

Nearly 2000kg of CO2 equivalents are saved by recycling 1000kg of clear plastic bottles (PET) compared to sending them to landfill (Remade).
Around 500kg of CO2 equivalents are saved by recycling 1000kg of plastic milk bottles (HDPE) compared to sending them to landfill (Remade).