Recycling plastics - methods and capability

Some kinds of plastic are recyclable if you can separate them from the other kinds of plastic. Waste polythene, which is a kind of plastic, is collected from factories and recycled into small balls which are used as packing materials and in the building industry.

In the USA there is a factory which recycles the plastic containers from "fast food" like hamburgers and hot drinks. The plastic is washed, then melted. It is made into plant pots and other useful things. At the moment, this kind of recycling is expensive. [...]

Recycling plastics - problems and possibilities

Most plastics are made from oil and other natural materials which will not last for ever. At the moment, we use plastic wastefully because it is cheap to produce. We pack things in it, then we throw away the packing. In Europe and the USA, about seventy per cent of plastic that an ordinary family throws away in its rubbish comes from packing materials. [...]

Nothing lasts for ever

Pollution is not the only reason for recycling. It is important to reduce pollution, but there is another reason as well - the conservation of energy, materials and money.
Nothing lasts for ever. Almost all our energy comes from materials (oil, natural gas, etc.) which have been here since the world began. We are using them up very quickly. For example, unless we conserve our oil, it will only last for another twenty years. What will we do then? [...]