Many people assume that when they recycle a plastic water bottle, it will be recycled into another bottle. This is not the reality for plastic recycling. Some materials, like metal and glass, can be infinitely recyclable, while plastics can only be “recycled” once or twice. How often an item can be recycled is entirely dependent on what material the item is made of. Let’s explore the most common recycled materials and how many times they can be recycled.
Plastics
Plastics can only be recycled 1-2 times before they are downcycled, which means it is recycled into something of lesser value (e.g., plastic lumber, fleece, clothing) and then sent to the landfill. Claiming plastics are “recyclable” is misleading because the product of recycled plastic ultimately ends up in the landfill, forcing us to continue to extract natural resources to create virgin plastic.
Glass
Glass is infinitely recyclable. Glass does not degrade or lose its’ chemical makeup during the recycling process. Additionally, it is more cost effective to recycle and reuse glass than it is to mine and extract natural resources to create virgin glass. (Note: this section discusses glass bottles and jars, not glass found in dinnerware. Dinnerware contains added chemicals that do not allow for them to be recyclable – we encourage you to donate these materials!)
Paper
Paper can be recycled 5-7 times. Paper is made up of long fibers that become shorter throughout the recycling process, making the fibers too short to adhere to each other. After paper is recycled 5-7 times, it can no longer be recycled and is made into items such as toilet paper, newspapers, or egg cartons. To reduce the degradation of the paper quality, virgin paper or wood pulp is added to recycled paper, which increases the number of times paper can be recycled and is often why products are “95% recycled paper.”
Aluminum
Aluminum, as well as other metals, are infinitely recyclable and do not lose their quality or chemical makeup during the recycling process. Recycling aluminum only needs around 5% of the energy needed to make new aluminum, making it incredibly efficient and cost-effective. Due to its infinite recyclability, roughly 75% of all aluminum ever produced is still being used today.