You Have More Plastic Waste Than You Think: A Two-Week Experiment

Introduction

Most U.S. plastic waste ends up in landfills and pollutes land, oceans, air, and even food and human blood. It is incredible to see plastic nearly everywhere you look, and our use is projected to continue growing. This made me wonder: How much plastic am I using? Where is all the plastic I am using going? Is the plastic waste in my home recyclable?

This led to my decision to run an unscientific plastic usage experiment! 

The Plastic Usage Experiment Goal

I wanted to understand a few things from doing this experiment:

1. How much plastic waste does one person (me) have in a month?

2. How much of that plastic waste can I put in the recycle bin? (Having it get recycled is another story.)

In addition to the above, I figured I might learn a few things along the way, but I had no idea how much I would learn…

The Plastic Experiment Plan Setup

The plan was to set aside all plastic waste for one month from November 15, 2023, through December 14, 2023. I pulled out a few trash bags to organize the different plastic waste:

1. I would have a trash bag for all my non-plastic waste.

2. I would have a trash bag for all the plastic my city would allow in my recycling bin.

3. I would have a trash bag for all other plastics that are not recyclable.

With the goal and plan in place, I started separating my garbage and setting aside plastic waste on November 15, 2023.

What It Was Like To Separate Plastic Items Daily

On Nov 15, 2023, I started putting aside all plastic waste.  Not just plastic waste with a recycle symbol but everything I identified as some sort of plastic material. 

I quickly learned I am not a plastic expert.  When you look at your garbage, do you know if something is plastic?  Not all plastics have an identifying recycle triangle symbol on them.  There are some items I can only assume are plastic since they are waterproof.  However, they do not have any identifying plastic marks on the packaging. 

For example, sliced cheese comes with each slice in a separate plastic wrapper. Those wrappers are, of course, not labeled. Also, I have yet to identify the wrapper material on my plastic protein drink bottle, but since it seems waterproof, I will assume it is plastic.  The wrapper says to remove it from the bottle for better recycling.

I then learned I only needed to run this experiment for part of the month.  In one typical week, I use one garbage bag for all my waste.  I thought I would need a month to gather enough plastic to get a good sample for this experiment. 

After one week, I knew I would not need that long.  It turns out a lot of my waste is plastic.  My regular garbage bag was nearly empty.  I then decided this experiment only required two weeks.

Revised Experiment Plan:  Two weeks from November 15, 2023, through November 28, 2023.

The Plastic Experiment Result

After two weeks of collecting trash, I had a half-full bag of recyclable plastics and a half-full bag of non-recyclable plastics.  At least half of my regular garbage waste was plastic of some kind.

To specifically address the questions associated with the goal of this unscientific experiment:

1. How much plastic waste does one person (me) have in a month?

Result:  At least half of my regular garbage is plastic.

1. How much of that plastic waste can I put in the recycle bin? (Having it get recycled is another story.)

Result: About half of the plastic can go in my recycle bin

The most common recyclable plastics I had were type 1 and 5.  You sometimes see these numbers in the middle of the recyclable triangle printed onto the product.  A 1 is polyethylene terephthalate (PET/PETE), common in plastic bottles and food containers.  A 5 is polypropylene (PP), also typical for food containers.  Since most of my waste is food related, this is not unexpected.

Examples of plastic I had:

• Recyclable (in San Diego)

• Single-use plastic bottles (recycling label number 1)

• Soap dispenser bottle (recycling label number 1)

• Food containers (recycling label numbers 1 or 5)

• Prescription pill bottle (recycling label number 5)

• Meat containers (recycling label number 5)

• Vitamin bottle (recycling label number 2)

• Mailer bag (recycling label number unknown)

• Yogurt container (recycling label number unknown)

• Lid to cardboard raisin container (recycling label number unknown)

• Not Recyclable

• Dog food bag

• Cheese slice wrappers

• Chips and candy bags

• Refrigerated store-bought Pizza wrapper

• Food take-out bag

• Beauty face mask bags

• Soap dispenser bottle pump

• Yogurt container lid (maybe foil)

What I Learned Separating Plastics from My Waste for Two Weeks

In just two weeks of this experiment, I learned many things.  Here are the top five:

1. Habits

I have been stuck in the habit of using large amounts of plastic without realizing it.  I have been so against using plastic water bottles, but here I am, drinking out of a plastic bottle every day for breakfast.  A single-use plastic bottle every day.  What was I thinking? I wasn't, which is a clear example that we often just continue our daily routine and habits without considering the environment.  It’s an easy trap to fall into, and I blame no one for when this happens.  This is my biggest lesson from this experiment, and I will adjust this immediately.  There are protein powders of the same brand sold in a larger plastic container - which would be better than plastic every day.  So, I may explore that as a first green step.  But I will continue to look for other options.  Suggestions?

2. What My City Allows

I had thought all plastic would have a recycle symbol on it, and if it did, that would mean I could put it in my city recycle bin.  It turns out that is not the case.  This is another example of how the recycling system and requirements for residents of all communities are so complex and confusing.  Every municipality will have rules on what can and cannot be placed in the recycle bin.  The City of San Diego is one of the most forgiving and allows all rigid plastics to be placed in the recycle bin. All the recyclables get sorted at a Material Recovery Facility (MRF).

3. Unknown Plastic Materials

I don’t know what materials are part of many products I purchase.  Is my butter wrapper plastic?  Is the wrapper of my protein beverage plastic?  There is no way to know for sure.  These unidentified materials will always end up in landfill garbage, which is unfortunate.

4. Extra Helpful Recycle Symbols

Some products include a standardized recyclable symbol with very helpful instructions. Each of these great labels includes the website for more information: how2recycle.info. This label tells you the type of material you have and what you need to do to recycle it (replace the cap, for example).

5. Other Recycling Programs Are Available

You can recycle items you would not usually think you can. I had a Brita filter to throw away during the experiment, and checking the box, it told me to go to brita.com/recycling to learn how to recycle my old water filter (which has plastic parts).  Brita water filters can be recycled, but you need to sign up online, where they have a program set up with TerraCycle.  There is currently a waitlist to join Brita’s free recycling program.  Once there is availability in the program and you are allowed in, you can print a free shipping label to send your Brita products to TerraCycle to be recycled. TerraCycle has multiple programs available with different products.  Check them out at https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/.

Conclusion

A tremendous amount of plastic is being used in nearly everything we buy.  You may not realize it until you look. This means there are many areas for improvement, including many places where we can reduce our plastic use.  When shopping, look for plastic-free products (the product and the packaging).  Some plastic-free products are on Amazon (check out our recommended products here).  I also recommend other online shops like https://zerowastestore.com/.

Do your best.  Every small change makes a difference.  Take small steps to stepping green.

For the YouTube version of this blog, check out the video below.

YouTube video of my plastic experiment.

References

1. Statista. Plastic waste in the United States - statistics & facts. Website: https://www.statista.com/topics/5127/plastic-waste-in-the-united-states/#topicOverview.

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