Recycling Plastics

In response to “Wasting the World With a Plague of Plastic Debris,” by Donella H. Meadows, Opinion, June 4:

The environmentally safe and cost-effective management of municipal solid waste is an urgent and pervasive problem in our society today. Our nation produces 160 million tons of municipal solid waste a year. About 80% of that goes into landfills. But we are rapidly running out of landfill space, and today, there are only a third as many landfills as there were a decade ago.

Plastics are often singled out as a major contributor to our nation’s solid waste disposal problem for two reasons: plastics’ high visibility as part of our modern life style and the widespread misconception that plastics are not recyclable. Plastics are widely used today because of the unique properties and performance that only they provide.

The industry recognizes that at 7% by weight and 25% by volume of the municipal solid waste stream, plastics are a part of the overall solid waste management problem and we are committed to helping provide meaningful solutions as part of the industry’s environmental responsibility.

Du Pont, like the Environmental Protection Agency, believes the size and diversity of the problem requires an integrated waste management system that includes waste minimization, recycling, waste-to-energy incineration, and landfilling.

Du Pont’s waste minimization programs have resulted in more efficient use of raw materials, recovery of reclaimed materials, and production of less waste requiring ultimate disposal. Du Pont recovers nearly a billion pounds of polymers a year in manufacturing processes with no compromise in finished product quality.

The company now recovers nearly 200 million pounds of high-value materials annually at 11 materials reclamation centers around the country.

Du Pont also is “partnering” with key customers to help design products that can be easily recycled and reused.

Du Pont recently implemented several major initiatives to enhance recycling of plastics. In April, we announced a joint venture with Waste Management Inc., the largest waste management company in the world, to sort and recycle plastics from municipal solid waste. The venture will be the largest plastics recycling and reprocessing operation in the country and will demonstrate that plastics can be efficiently diverted from the municipal waste stream and put to productive reuse.

We know, however, that consumers are the key to the success of these recycling efforts and they are helping achieve some dramatic results. For example, more than 20% of polyester soft drink bottles in use are being recycled.

Environmentally sound waste-to-energy incineration also will help solve the solid waste crisis. The technology to accomplish this is available and being used extensively in Europe, Japan, Singapore and other parts of the world. Plastics yield about four times the energy of other types of solid waste when incinerated.

Finally, a comprehensive and effective waste management system incorporates the use of landfills to handle those materials that cannot be recycled or incinerated. Such landfills, however, must be built and operated to prevent any toxic components from entering the environment. Methods are in hand to do so.

One of the most important initiatives by the plastics industry to address the problem of municipal solid waste was the formation in 1988 of the Council for Solid Waste Solutions. Du Pont spearheaded formation of the council.

NICK PAPPAS

Executive Vice President

Du Pont, Wilmington, Del.