Recycling Plastic

In this section, I will touch on one of the most controversial  topics in recycling:  Plastic.  Are we slowly destroying our world with all this plastic or are we on the contrary - like many of the sites I’ve visited are alleging - helping the environment with this versatile material?

On the one hand, plastic:

	is lighter than most materials
	is water resistant
	is chemical resistant
	is shatter resistant
	is designed to withstand high temperatures
	is extremely durable
	has excellent electrical insulation
	has great thermal properties
	helps with transporting all kinds of merchandise
	helps with storage
	is one of the simplest forms of protective packaging
	is relatively inexpensive to make

On the other hand, plastic:

	can take up to 500 years to decompose
	can leach out carcinogenic substances into the food it holds

You don’t think this should be such a big controversy since there are over 10 items on the side of plastic and only two against?  Well, think again.

This is HUGE because the part about not decomposing in like….FOREVER (because 500 years is pretty close to forever where I’m concerned), way outweighs all the other points.  Not to mention the goose bumps I get all over just thinking of cancer.

And yet, I would be foolish to get on my altar and preach that we should stop using plastics altogether.   That would be like going to a place where the inhabitants eat mostly meat and potatoes and trying to give out information on the healthy choices of vegetarianism.   My endeavor  would be sure to  fail.  I might reach some inhabitants but most would just smile, nod their heads and throw my brochures away the minute I was out of sight.

I think that what I am trying to say is that, in this section, I will concentrate a lot more on the REDUCE and the RE-USE than on the RECYCLE.  (Although, it goes without saying that once you have used and re-used as much as you can and you absolutely have to discard, then YOU WILL recycle right?)

When I started on this site, I was completely against plastic.  I was prepared to give the perfect impersonation  of righteous indignation and to throw stones at all the people who make and use plastic…

But, once I started doing some research, and mostly once I took the time to sit back and remind myself that I am doing this page to give all the information I can get and not just to choose the information that suits me, I realized that I had to change my approach to plastic recycling a little bit.

No more throwing stones blindly to the manufacturers and consumers of plastic but more a sensitization to the best ways to deal with the plastic recycling problem.

(Although, if you are the kind of person who just buys, buys, buys plastic without re-using or recycling, then… close your eyes and imagine  a huge rock coming right at you.)

So… In this section of my site, I will touch on different aspects of plastic recycling.  Here is a list of the topics I am presently planning on writing about:

	Recycling plastic bottles
	Recycling plastic bags
	Diaper recycling
	Bio-degradable plastic
	Plastic recycle codes
	Cancer research on plastic containers

If you have any other topics you would like me to write about or if you have comments you would like me to add on these pages, please let me know.  Just click on plastic recycling.

Thanks
Johsée