Recycling of plastic

In short: Plastics can be reused, but only well when sorted by type and clean. The recycling triangle with a number names the kind of plastic.

In more detail: Common are PET (1), HDPE (2), PVC (3), LDPE (4), PP (5) and PS (6). Mixed or dirty plastics are often burned or recycled into low-grade products.

In detail

• PET bottles: Deposit bottles become new bottles or fibres.
• Composites: Plastic with paper or aluminium is hard to separate.
• Mechanical and chemical: Mechanical recycling shreds and melts, chemical recycling breaks polymers into basic materials.
• Microplastics: Tiny particles from tyre wear, textiles and cosmetics enter the environment.
• Avoid first: Reusables, refills and less packaging are better than recycling (muelltrennung-in-deutschland).