Beware of plastics!

Paper, glass and metal waste can really be recycled that is, turned back into essentially the same product this is not the case with plastics. Each time plastic is heated its chemical composition changes and its quality decreases so that it can usually not be reused more than once. Recycling used plastic, therefore, does not make a dent in the amount of plastic needed to make the original products. And ultimately, all this plastic still ends up being landfilled or burned.

In addition, plastics are shipped out of this country to be recycled, often along with trash, dirt, and/or hazardous materials.

Two Months' Plastic Garbage Exports to Asia
               February 1-March 31, 1992
Country        Number of Shipments           Total (pounds)
China (directly)       6                         210,894
Hong Kong            586                      37,746,957
India                 11                       2,198,339
Indonesia             50                       4,952,518
Japan                  5                         112,797
Korea                  6                         241,866
Malaysia               7                         561,530
Pakistan               1                          41,533
Philippines           58                       5,385,902
Singapore              5                         157,350
Thailand               6                         273,071
Taiwan                 6                         344,611

TOTAL                750                      52,053,376

www.things.org/~jym/greenpeace/where-recycled-plastics-go.html

So what can we do?

Espress your opinions by using your consumer power--Don't buy plastics! However, if you do, remember that Reuse comes before Recycle, try to get as many benefits as you can out of this troublesome resource.

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