When you see a piece of plastic imprinted with three arrows in a triangle shape, what do you think? If you are like most people, you assume it means recycle. You assume that every piece of plastic bearing that symbol is recyclable. This is not true, and cheap petroleum is a major reason why.
What has become known as the recycling symbol was developed by the plastics industry in the 1980s. The symbol was never intended for consumers. Its only purpose was to give recyclers a tool to make sorting plastic waste easier.
The principal was simple. Plastics were divided into seven categories. Each category was given a number. Plastic manufacturers created marks consisting of the triangle symbol and a number, marks that were imprinted on their products. When it came time to dispose of said products, they could easily be sorted by number.
Recycling and the Oil Crises
At this point you might be wondering what cheap petroleum has to do with any of this. Be patient; we’ll get there. First understand that the idea of recycling plastics came into its own as a result of two consecutive oil crises in the 1970s. The second of those events, in 1979, forced us to start thinking about what we would do if OPEC cut off oil exports to the West.
It was decided that recycling plastics would reduce our dependence on foreign oil – a reasonable assumption given that all plastics are made from petroleum. And as long as oil prices remained fairly high, recycling was worth the effort. But oil prices have plummeted over the last 10 to 15 years.
Cheaper Than Ever Before
Oil prices in the 21st century are cheaper than ever before. Thanks to technologically advanced drilling techniques and the revolution that is shale oil, the West doesn’t depend on OPEC nearly as much as it used to. And in fact, the U.S. is now among the world’s top oil exporters. That means petroleum is really, really cheap.
This is not good for plastics recycling. Why? Because in many cases it is cheaper to make virgin plastic from cheap petroleum than recycle used plastics. Guess which one manufacturers prefer? They are going to continue making virgin plastic as long as it costs less to do so.
Post-Industrial Recycling
Even though cheap petroleum is making plastic recycling harder, there is an exception to the rule. That exception is post-industrial recycling. Companies specializing in recycling commercial plastics can do so and still remain competitive with virgin product. But they have to do so under tightly controlled conditions.
Seraphim Plastics, a Tennessee recycler that operates in seven states from Ohio to Arkansas, says it is still not the case that all plastics can be recycled. Some remain prohibitively expensive. But those that are viable can generate quite a bit of business for companies willing to take them on.
The key to post-industrial recycling is automation. An automated sorting and reduction process can eliminate expensive labor costs. It can reduce waste and increase efficiency. Put all that together and you can recycle certain types of commercial plastic waste profitably, even with cheap petroleum to contend with.
We like cheap petroleum. It means cheap gas for our cars and cheap heating oil for our homes. It also means cheap plastics that translate into cheap consumer prices at the store. But it has its drawbacks. One of them is the fact that cheap petroleum is making it harder to recycle plastics at a profit. And as long as there is no money to be made, there will not be many companies doing it.
