Evan Wilkoff

As I mentioned in my first posting, in most of the United States, despite many municipalities’ universal collection efforts, there are only two types of plastic that are actually recycled (even though most plastic items in the grocery store have a set of three arrows forming a triangle with a number in the middle—it’s not a recycling symbol – it’s a resin stamp indicating roughly the type of plastic it is. The petrochemical industry created it to make consumers think the item is recyclable.)

The two types of commonly recycled plastics are “clean containers with necks” - Types 1 (“PET” Polyethylene Terephthalate) and 2 (“HDPE” High-Density Polyethylene). I do a really good job and ensuring all of my plastics that meet these criteria go into my local recycling bin for periodic pickup.

Beginning August 1, 2023, I decided to retain all non-recyclable rigid plastics used in food packaging to see what I consume that is NOT being recycled. After 2 months, this is what my household (2 adults who rarely buy takeout or prepared foods and regularly enjoy cooking in at least 4-5 nights per week) accumulated that would otherwise go in the trash:  

Although this might not seem like a lot, this is only after two months for two 2 adults! Extrapolate that for all households on your block, neighborhood, city, state, and country – mind boggling! It seems so silly for all of these single-use plastics to be created and discarded so quickly. There has to be a better way!

Coming soon – an update on this experiment.