Where else can I recycle in Philadelphia?

May 23, 2007 2:47 PM

Are there alternatives to the Philadelphia city recycling program?

Are there any private recycling services in the Philadelphia area that will take my stuff? I am really over only being able to recycle plastic #1 and #2, and I am especially over the city's recycling trucks failing to come down my street at all most of the time. Is there somewhere else I can take this stuff?

I am aware that there are neighborhood recycling drop-off days, but they only take the same stuff that the city does. What I'm looking for is somewhere that will take all my plastic #5 I've been forced to throw away. I'm in South Philly if it helps, but I'm happy to haul this stuff somewhere else, if only I knew where...

posted by catesbie to grab bag (4 comments total)

Just because it has a number doesn't mean much. #5 is polypropylene and no one wants it from consumer waste. Even places that take all the numbers end up throwing out #3-7 — they only do it so they get more of #1 and #2.
posted by smackfu at 3:17 PM on May 23, 2007

Smackfu pretty much nailed it. Your municipality doesn't tell you to put #5 and #6 plastic in the bin, because nobody really wants the stuff, and chances are it'd just end up in the landfill anyway, so they just cut out the middleman and have you do it. (Actually, I think it's better to do it this way -- at least by making consumers put un-recyclable containers in the trash, they might actually understand the waste they're creating, rather than just getting the warm, fuzzy feeling that "hey, it's okay, I recycled it!" even though it probably just went into the trash at the transfer station, because recycling it is currently unprofitable.)

The one PP exception I'm aware of is Stonyfield yogurt cups. If you wash them out thoroughly, get enough of them together, and mail them back to Stonyfield, they'll have them recycled (and send you some coupons). But they don't want other types of PP besides their own containers, since I suspect it costs them money to do this.

#6 Plastic is polystyrene, which is also not really in high demand, although there have been some attempts to recycle it. The only exception is Polystyrene Foam (aka "Styrofoam"), which can be recycled more easily than containers and plastic wrap. Dart (the foam cup company) operates a few recycling centers, including one in PA. You could try contacting them to see what they take (whether it's all foam or just their products after use). If it's just their stuff, more general PS-foam recycling info can be found at the Expanded Polystyrene Foam Manufacturers Association. Also, I've seen a few other types of foam packing material (particularly the blown-in form-fitting kind) with recycling instructions on it, although when I went to their web site there wasn't a pickup center in my state. YMMV.

#7 Plastic is just a catchall designation for "mixed plastic," and if you see anything with it, you can pretty much just chuck it -- it's garbage, nobody wants to deal with it.

IMO, the best thing you can do is try to avoid buying anything made of non-HDPE plastic if you can, since HDPE has the biggest secondary market for recycled products (plastic decking/lumber, for starters). PET would be the next least-evil. But the rest are all pretty evil from a recycling standpoint; if tossing them in the trash makes you even a tiny bit less likely to purchase products which come in them, toss away.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:25 PM on May 23, 2007

Wow. This is really enlightening, guys. I had no clue. It's pretty sobering to think that all of that goes straight into the garbage regardless. The irony is that I think about half my containers from Whole Foods are unrecyclable - I wonder what they expect people to do?

Thanks for the advice!
posted by catesbie at 6:53 AM on May 24, 2007

Late to the party.

1) On the bright side, my understanding is that #5 plastic generally uses less resources for the same amount of container. That's why Stoneybrook -- with much screaming and howling from its customers -- went to #5 a few years ago. That's what they claim at least -- that they realized a lot of their containers were going to end up in the trash one way or another, so they might as well switch to a plastic that used fewer resources

2) I've rarely come across a plastic container that can't be used twice, or even idefinately for that matter. I never understand people who actually go out and buy disposable containers, since I have access to them all the time just by not throwing out the containers in the first place.
posted by Deathalicious at 3:15 PM on September 30, 2007