Black Plastic Ban
Most often, we see black plastic in the form of coffee cup lids, to go containers and food trays. Generally, we will put these items in our blue bins when we’re done with them, but did you know that black plastic is not accepted at our local Materials Recovery Facility (MRF)? Most black plastic has a recycling symbol on it, which makes it confusing, but in Vermont if we put black plastic in our blue bins, it will be sent to the landfill. Why is that?
Materials that have been separated from recyclables and will be sent to a landfill.
Essentially, black plastic can only be made into more black plastic, which is a color of plastic that doesn’t have a strong market, so it doesn’t have a good resale value. When black plastic is mixed in with other colors of plastic, it lowers the versatility of the color palate for the recycled plastic. So, most MRFs will sort out black plastic from their bales because leaving the black plastic in will lower the overall value of the bale. According to our local waste district, the CSWD, it lowers the value because “companies that buy our recyclables haven’t figured out a dependable way to sort {black plastic}. Most of them use infrared, optical sorting devices to separate different types of plastics that arrive in the same bale. Because black plastic absorbs the infrared light instead of bouncing it back to the sensor, it’s really hard and more expensive for them to deal with.” Since the resale value of black plastic is so low, it’s not worth it economically for companies to develop new sorting technologies.
Bales of plastic at the MRF in Williston, VT.
Not only is black plastic not saleable as a recyclable material, according to Kanika Ghandi at VPIRG black plastic also “poses a serious health concern.” Unfortunately, “because black plastic is generally not recycled, these plastics and their chemical additives end up in our landfills or on the side of the road. The toxic chemicals can then find their way into the environment and could end up in our drinking water and food that we eat.” So when you can, avoid buying black plastic. Forgo the black coffee cup lid and bring your own containers when possible. If you do end up with black plastic, be sure to reuse it or throw it away. It doesn’t belong in the blue bin.